Since 2016, the Georgia Social Impact Collaborative (GSIC) has served as Georgia's only statewide impact investing network. We unite foundations, public and private sector investors, community development organizations, social enterprises, nonprofits, and other local leaders to unlock and deploy creative capital and impact investing dollars where it matters most.
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GSIC focuses on two interconnected priorities that emerged from listening to stakeholders across Georgia.
These conversations revealed so much of the good work happening across the state and the sectors leaders are taking to address housing instability and food security, to embrace community-conscious infrastructure or to develop a "green economy," to grow a healthy, diverse entrepreneurial ecosystem and wealth-building jobs, to preserve our community social capital and assets, and to work on specific type of impact-first capital, to thrive.
The truth is, Georgia's impact-first investing community, whether that's philanthropies, family offices, anchor institutions, or others, remains relatively small and often risk-averse. Many institutions are making isolated first investments or just now exploring their options. Some have voiced the need to integrate impact investing into their core strategies over time. Others have internal systems to grow their programs year over year, but even they are challenged by this dynamic. They're hungry for more, but the infrastructure hasn't caught up to their appetite.
Georgia's impact investing scene is growing but fragmented. We've got new funds, national CDFIs entering the market, and passionate grassroots leaders proposing new solutions that break old patterns. Major Atlanta-based community development organizations are bullish on expanding beyond their traditional geographic boundaries. All the while, rural and mid-sized communities across the state often lack the support structures and capital connections they need to sustain the momentum they're building.
Meanwhile, many organizations based in Atlanta that would like to expand into new markets across the state but lack the resources needed to support that growth or are unsure where to begin. We see an opportunity to build more connective investing tissue across the state. By ensuring cross-regional representation in convenings, fostering peer learning, embracing more regional solutions, and lifting up new partners, we can help create a more coordinated and equitable infrastructure. One where regional and local leaders have a stronger role in shaping how capital shows up in their communities.
Click through the milestones that shaped GSIC into the statewide network it is today.
A group of Georgia's leading philanthropic and investment professionals attended the Social Capital Markets (SOCAP) Conference. Inspired by the conference, this group began envisioning the potential of establishing a statewide impact investing network in Georgia, setting in motion the creation of the Georgia Social Impact Collaborative (GSIC).
GSIC's early leaders built a pilot database of social enterprises and their capital investment needs that was mapped onto a landscape analysis exercise. This would become GSIC's first major thought leadership contribution, blooming into a larger capacity-building learning community mapping that would inform how Georgia's CDFIs and later impact investors and ecosystem partners connected.
In Summer 2018, GSIC convened 75+ stakeholders to unveil the first ecosystem landscape assessment findings report and launch GSIC's Ecosystem Map. In the intervening years, GSIC introduced a variety of key educational programs on philanthropic impact investing, Pay for Success, New Markets Tax Credits, Social Impact Bonds, CRA Revisions, and more.
GSIC identified the financial and capital access impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the nonprofit and social enterprise ecosystem in Georgia. GSIC stepped into a virtual organizing and convening space to help rally impact capital to address these needs while supporting mission-driven organizations.
GSIC created the PRI Toolkit to guide institutions through every stage of their impact investing journey, including crafting an IPS, selecting an investment strategy, due diligence, evaluation, and assessing portfolio construction. In 2022, GSIC also began supporting the Atlanta Impact Finance Meetups, a quarterly informal peer learning and networking opportunity for professionals actively interested in impact investing and impact finance.
GSIC held its first large-scale event, the "State of Georgia CDFI Conference." This conference was an opportunity to identify Georgia's CDFIs and gather their feedback on potential investments, interest, or plans to begin investing or investing more in CDFIs. Nearly 200 participants from across the state attended.
GSIC's strategy starts with a simple insight: the bottleneck isn't a shortage of good ideas or capable organizations. It's access to capital.
CDFIs, community development organizations, social enterprises, and mission-driven businesses across Georgia have demonstrated track records. They know their communities. They have pipelines of viable projects. What they lack is sufficient capital to meet demand.
Meanwhile, foundations, endowments, and other mission-first institutions sit on billions in assets. Many want to align more of their capital with mission but lack the infrastructure, peer networks, and practical guidance to move from interest to action. This is the gap GSIC exists to close.
We don't just educate asset allocators and hope capital starts flowing. We orchestrate a specific sequence that transforms isolated experiments into coordinated ecosystem growth.
We meet foundations, endowments, and faith-based institutions where they are. Through individualized education, peer learning, and practical resources, we show them how impact investing serves their existing missions. We're not asking them to abandon financial discipline. We're showing them how to deploy capital that generates both returns and community impact.
We don't just talk about impact investing in abstract terms. We produce field-building analysis that helps practitioners understand market dynamics, identify gaps, and recognize opportunities. Through case studies, white papers, reports, and practical toolkits, we translate complex concepts into accessible guidance. When stakeholders see concrete examples and have practical resources at hand, uncertainty transforms into confidence. Our thought leadership doesn't sit on shelves. It gets used by people making real decisions about capital deployment.
Fragmented ecosystems waste resources and miss opportunities. We create spaces where asset allocators, CDFIs, community developers, and enablers can find each other. Through convenings, collaborative initiatives, and strategic introductions, we build the relationships and trust that make ambitious partnerships possible. This connective tissue turns isolated transactions into sustained collaboration.
Our work succeeds when the ecosystem no longer needs us to coordinate every connection. We're building permanent infrastructure: peer networks that keep meeting, resources that keep informing decisions, regional leaders with sustained capacity, proven models that reduce barriers to entry. Each successful investment makes the next one easier. Each documented success reduces friction for the next institution considering this path. Infrastructure doesn't just support transactions. It creates self-reinforcing momentum.
When we activate one foundation to make impact investments, we don't just unlock that institution's capital. We create a peer educator for other foundations. We generate deal flow for CDFIs. We document lessons that reduce risk for the next investor. We build proof points that shift industry norms.
When we connect regional leaders to capital sources, we don't just fund individual projects. We build capacity that persists. We create local champions who can advocate for their communities. We demonstrate models that other regions can adapt.
This is why we focus on asset allocators first. Not because other ecosystem segments matter less, but because unlocking capital creates downstream effects that strengthen the entire system. Capital is the constraint. Our partners need more of it flowing to communities. GSIC exists to make that happen.