Investing with Purpose and Partnership: Highlights from the 2026 Mission Investors Exchange Conference

A short 20^th anniversary video kicked off the conference featuring Debra Schwartz, Managing Director for Impact Investments, who is also an MIE Board member and one of MIE’s founders. The video reflects on the important role MIE plays by fostering collaboration and helping the field of impact investing grow.

Investing and Leading Amid Uncertainty

In a luncheon plenary, MacArthur President John Palfrey moderated a conversation with foundation leaders Tonya Allen of the McKnight Foundation, Stephen Heintz of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, and Shanaysha Sauls of the Baltimore Community Foundation, who also serves as chair of MIE’s board. The discussion focused on how their respective institutions use impact investments to advance their mission while navigating a complex and unpredictable landscape. Panelists reflected on lessons learned, aligning investment strategies with core values, and balancing a long-term perspective with responding to today’s urgent needs.

Community Investing: Building Local Ecosystems to Advance Impact

Allison Clark, Associate Director, Impact Investments, moderated a panel discussion on place-based investing and the need to build stronger local investment ecosystems. The discussion featured leaders from two organizations which MacArthur has supported: Andrew Crosson, CEO of Invest Appalachia and Adair Mosley of the GroundBreak Coalition.

Impact Measurement and Management: Understanding Core Concepts

Charles Coustan, Portfolio Manager, shared how MacArthur measures the impact of our impact investments as part of a panel with Ben L. Bynum and Victoria Faust of the Colorado Health Foundation and Sarah Gelfand of BlueMark. The panelists discussed how they are measuring impact across the lifecycle of investments to help other institutions strengthen their own impact measurement and management practices.

Innovating with Catalytic Capital

Urmi Sengupta, Field Support Manager and Senior Impact Investment Officer, moderated a discussion on emerging ways investors are using catalytic capital–a form of impact investing designed to enable additional investment that otherwise would not be possible. The session was hosted by the Catalytic Capital Consortium (C3), MacArthur’s collaborative effort to increase the knowledge, awareness, and use of catalytic capital. It featured Adam Connaker, Vice President of Investments at Surdna Foundation, one of C3’s funders; Caroline Ross, Chief Operating Officer at Public Media Company, which is managing the MacArthur-supported Public Media Bridge Fund; and Daniel Tellalian of the Signal Fund, which was launched by MacArthur grantee Echoing Green.

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