Episodi

  • Beyond The 5% Rule: Activating Capital For Good With Kathleen Simpson

    Beyond The 5% Rule: Activating Capital For Good With Kathleen Simpson
    Nov 21 2025
    Welcome to this episode of Courageous Capital Stewards. Today we’re joined by Kathleen Simpson, CEO of The Russell Family Foundation, who is redefining what philanthropy can do by activating capital for impact—not just grants. If you think “doing good” means giving away only five percent, get ready to rethink everything. Under Kathleen’s leadership, the foundation shifted from 7% to nearly 95% impact-aligned investing. We’ll explore how they made that transition through Total Resource Activation—leveraging grants, investments, and even loan guarantees as one unified strategy—and their bold Net Zero commitment. From starting with the problem (not the capital stack)...
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    37 min
  • Courageous Capital Stewards - Doug Spencer

    Courageous Capital Stewards - Doug Spencer
    Apr 2 2024
    Transcript Dr. Steph Hello and welcome to the Courageous Capital Steward’s Podcast. I’m your host, Dr. Stephanie Gripney as founder and leader of Impact Finance Center. I’m thrilled to bring you insights and stories from the forefront of financial innovation and impact investing. Our podcast is dedicated to those bold and visionary individuals and organizations who are actively transforming the way we think about and manage capital for the greater good. Each episode will dive into the strategies, challenges and successes of stewarding capital courageously. Whether you’re an investor, entrepreneur, philanthropist, or just curious about the world of...
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    52 min
  • Courageous Capital Stewards - Jordana Barrack

    Courageous Capital Stewards - Jordana Barrack
    Feb 14 2024
    Dr Steph Welcome. My name is Dr. Steph, and you’re joining us for our Courageous Capital Steward’s podcast today. We’re thrilled to have with us our guest, Jordanna Barrick, who is the executive director of the Mighty Arrow Foundation. So thank you. Welcome. It’s great to have you here with us today. Thank you. Steph. It’s it’s fun to be here with you today. We’ve had a few fun conversations in the past, and I’m looking forward to this one to meet you. And I remember thinking, my gosh, we should have had the record button going in the...
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    35 min
  • Courageous Capital Stewards - Bruce Reed’s Impact Journey

    Courageous Capital Stewards - Bruce Reed’s Impact Journey
    Aug 7 2023
    Dr. Steph Welcome. My name is Dr. Stephanie Gripne, and this is our podcast, Courageous Capital Stewards. I founded and Lead Impact Finance Center. We’re based in Denver, Colorado, and our primary focus is we identify individuals, foundations, family offices, corporations, and now starting to be pension funds who want to learn about impact investing. We identify them, educate them and activate them. And we’re super excited to to reconnect with our long term friend and colleague, Bruce Reed, who leads Edwards Mother Earth Foundation. Bruce, We met several years ago, but I’d like you to start the conversation...
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    31 min
  • Courageous Capital Stewards - Community Foundation of Utah’s Impact Investing Journey with Ian Shelledy

    Courageous Capital Stewards - Community Foundation of Utah’s Impact Investing Journey with Ian Shelledy
    Aug 7 2023
    Steph Welcome. My name is Doctor Steph, and this is our courageous Capital Steward’s podcast with Impact Finance Center. And today I am super excited because we have a special guest, Ian Shelledy. And Ian helps lead the Community Foundation of Utah. Ian, welcome. We are super excited to have you today. Ian Thanks, Steph It’s great to be here. Steph Fantastic. So community Foundations and Impact Investing, I have not actually said this publicly, but I’m gonna say this out loud a little bit. One of the reasons I love working with community foundations is when you...
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    46 min
  • Courageous Capital Stewards - Regenerative Agriculture with Mark Lewis

    Courageous Capital Stewards - Regenerative Agriculture with Mark Lewis
    Aug 7 2023
    Dr. Steph Welcome, everyone. My name is Dr. Stephanie Gripne. You’re joining us for Courageous Capital Stewards. And today’s guest is Mark Lewis. This podcast is produced by Impact Finance Center. We are almost ten years old. This is our ten-year anniversary. We are a multi-university academic center that spun out of University of Colorado. And the purpose of it really was because many think of the 30,000 higher education institutions around the world, many of them, if not most of them, have entrepreneurship centers. And those entrepreneurship centers identify, educate and invest in entrepreneurs. Those could be projects, nonprofits,...
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    55 min
  • Courageous Capital Stewards - Rich Hoops Redefines Success

    Courageous Capital Stewards - Rich Hoops Redefines Success
    Aug 7 2023
    When Rich Hoops graduated college, he pictured what success would look like. At 40, after a flourishing corporate career, he had achieved everything that he envisioned success to be. What else is there? In the Courageous Capital Stewards podcast this month, Rich shares how that question started his impact investing journey. “It’s somewhat scary because you have just as much life out the windshield as you had in the rearview mirror,” Rich said in the interview. “Yet, you don’t know where you’re going to go with all that.” It was during a graduate school internship that Mark Lewis began learning about the power of soil to sequester carbon, realizing that "Once I went down this soil wormhole, I have never gone back." Mark, together with three partners, founded their venture capital firm about two years ago with the idea that the world needs tech-enabled solutions to scale what they call regenerative practices—nature-based carbon removal. The company invests in regenerative food and agriculture technology companies across the entire supply chain, looking for companies that can innovate and disrupt the way in which we grow food and fiber.
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    43 min
  • Courageous Capital Stewards - Praful Shah

    Courageous Capital Stewards - Praful Shah
    Aug 7 2023
    Praful Shah has an interesting story to tell about his journey into impact investing. He took Dr. Steph on that journey during a recent conversation that launched Impact Finance Center’s Courageous Capital Stewards series. The series was created to give an inside look at investors who made conscious, courageous decisions to invest in companies that are impact oriented. These investors are among the more than 150 we have guided on their impact investing journeys using Full Spectrum Capital. We wanted to reconnect with these difference-makers and share their stories to inspire others. “If I try to make money, I lose it; if I try to help out, I do well.” – Praful Shah
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    30 min