This summer, I had the pleasure of participating in the UVA Social Entrepreneurship Tadler Fellowship. Thanks to this wonderful experience funded by the Tadler family, I matched with LOCUS, a local impact investing firm based out of Richmond. At LOCUS, I served as a Summer Associate for the Philanthropic Consulting Team. This team works with foundations throughout the country to craft impact investing goals and strategies, provide guidance for policy, and host events for peer learning. Though their office is fully remote, I was able to meet and learn from members of the LOCUS team that have years of experience in the field of impact investing. It was enlightening to shadow such experienced professionals and to learn about what their work is like on a day-to-day basis.
A large part of my role was to conduct market research on foundations with local impact investing programs. I researched how the foundations fund these initiatives, what percentage these initiatives constitute of their total assets, and how much staff they have dedicated to local program-related investments. This database helps create an understanding of the local impact investing ecosystem. Additionally, I got to assist in several administrative roles behind the scenes. I learned how to leverage platforms like Salesforce and Formstack for business activities and improved my skills in Excel.
A super meaningful project I worked on this summer was the Appalachian Investment Ecosystem Initiative’s Investment Framing Series Cohort. This series was created to accelerate community investment in Central Appalachia and build a network of people with the skills to “frame” investment opportunities within the region. I assisted behind the scenes with the logistics and planning of this series. I prepared MOUs, drafted meeting agendas, and attended planning meetings. It was exciting to see how much work is going into advancing the investment ecosystem of Appalachia, and I am grateful to have taken part in this project.
Throughout the summer, the Tadler Fellowship cohort met over Zoom, and I was able to discuss my experiences with the other Fellows. In these conversations, everyone was able to share their experiences and newly gained perspectives from working with companies within Appalachia. Despite the chaos caused by the pandemic, it was great to meet with the other Fellows and learn about their summers. This experience has been extremely worthwhile, and I am so grateful for the support of the UVA Social Entrepreneurship team. I am glad that I can take what I have learned throughout this fellowship with me back to UVA this fall and into my future career.