Signal Fund
Overview
Signal Fund provides capital to social innovators at critical growth stages that traditional investors often deem as too high risk. Signal prioritizes founders with overlooked potential for scalable social impact.
The Challenge
For social enterprises, funding typically happens at various stages in an organization’s growth: concept, launch, early viability, scaling, and stable. Signal Fund infuses capital during early viability and scaling, when traditional funders will not invest due to risk — despite extraordinary potential for impact.
This funding disparity is even greater for leaders of color. In 2019, research from Echoing Green and The Bridgespan Group showed that the revenues of Black-led organizations were 24 percent smaller than those of their white-led counterparts, and the unrestricted net assets of the Black-led organizations were 76 percent smaller than their white-led counterparts. In the mainstream capital space, a 2023 McKinsey study revealed similar disparities with start-ups led by underrepresented founders (including women) receiving only 43 percent of the funding compared to their white male founder counterparts.
Despite being one of the most powerful drivers of social change, too many social innovators aren’t receiving the capital they need to scale when they need it most.
Our Solution
Signal Fund bridges this gap through catalytic capital — investments that are patient, safer, and more flexible than traditional models. By infusing capital at a critical time, Signal Fund investments make it possible for social enterprises to navigate the proverbial valley of death, achieve sustainability, and unlock innovation and impact that otherwise would go unrealized.
Our Impact
As of April 2024, Signal Fund has raised $15.6 million. The fund has disbursed $3.6 million to 12 social innovators. As a result, recipients have already leveraged an additional $18 million in funding for their organizations.
Recipients are driving transformative impact across issue areas, including inclusive finance and hiring technologies, gender lens economic development in rural India, reduction in mass incarceration, and anti-racist programs based in neuroscience.
Over the course of a two-year pilot, Signal Fund aims to make a total of 20 investments, providing $100,000 to $500,000 in catalytic capital to recipients of the Echoing Green fellowship.
Launch Partners ($500,000 And Up)
