From Grants to Investments, How One Family is Acting with Urgency to Equitably Address the Climate Crisis
ImpactAssets Client Spotlight: Anne and Don Bice Climate Fund
When Claire Raffel and husband David Bice received an inheritance from David’s parents in 2020, they immediately knew where they wanted to funnel funds — to support the energy transition in a way that benefits communities on the front lines of the climate crisis — but they were unsure as to exactly how to do so.
“We started thinking philanthropically, because that’s what we knew,” Claire says.
Then they learned about the concept of using philanthropic dollars for impact investing.
They realized that they could make grants as well as catalytic investments — enabling them to continue cycling money through an ecosystem of climate projects.
“It was such a thrilling aha-moment to discover that we could deploy money all across the board in meaningful ways. It felt hopeful, which is something that can be rare when you’re working on climate.”
This vision led Claire and David to ImpactAssets, where they worked with the team to establish the Anne and Don Bice Climate Fund (after David’s parents).
As Claire and David learned about The ImpactAssets Donor Advised Fund’s flexible structure, their sense of possibility began to expand. “We were free to think about risk and return totally di erently,” Claire says — after all, they’d donated the funds and already received a tax benefit. ImpactAssets offered the full range of risk and return profiles, but for Claire and David, there was no need to benchmark against market returns.
“We get ‘returns’ by accelerating exciting new projects contributing to a livable world for future generations,” Claire says. To them, the biggest risks come from not acting with urgency; not moving money quickly enough in the fight against inequitable climate impact.
Photos of the Anpetu Wi Wind Farm, courtesy of SAGE Development Authority, a client recommended investment supporting clean energy development for the people of Standing Rock.
Since partnering with ImpactAssets, the family has been able to allocate both grants and investments to a wide range of entities — sometimes granting to and investing in the same entity. For example, they issued both an unrestricted grant and a low-interest loan to the Anpetu Wi Wind Farm — the first utility scale wind farm on Tribal land, located on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation that straddles the North Dakota and South Dakota border. Being able to use the capital in different ways allows them to support different areas of the business that are better suited for receiving grants versus loans.
They’ve also made direct investments in funds like Just Climate on the ImpactAssets Investment Platform — thereby trusting in fund managers to allocate to companies advancing climate justice.
Claire acknowledges that her and David’s impact investing journey so far has been a process of constant learning and adjustment — and of discovery, as they’ve watched powerful seeds of change receive the support they needed to grow.
Claire and David say they are excited for the next step on this journey — extending this learning by launching yet another DAF at ImpactAssets, to bring together other impact investors in support of renewable energy projects led by, and benefitting, frontline communities.
LEGAL AND PROGRAM DISCLAIMER: This is not a solicitation to buy or sell securities, nor a private placement offering pursuant to any private placement memorandum that must be issued to qualified investors. It is an informational description of charitably oriented, social purpose investment options that have been approved by ImpactAssets only for use in its donor advised fund asset base. It is only for use by its donors. This does not constitute tax advice. Please note there are a number of factors to consider when assessing the tax implication of gifts to charity. Individuals should consult with a tax specialist before making any charitable donations.
This spotlight features a current client of ImpactAssets, Inc. No cash or non-cash compensation was provided to the client.
