Investments with Impact

Investments that matter.

The World Is Converging on Impact

Social entrepreneurs are tackling some of the most complex issues of our time. But that path isn’t smooth. They need your help. Join the first investment fund designed to help social entrepreneurs move from impasse to impact. The Impact Fund will disburse $100 million in short-term loans to 200 social enterprises in its first five years—keeping $1 billion of impact on track.

From Impasse to Impact

The Impact Fund—the first of our funds open to outside investors—invests in fully funded social enterprises that are experiencing an unexpected, externally caused cash crunch. Our bridge loans solve that crunch, keeping impact on track and accelerating toward scale.

Case Study, Prograin

A Proven Model

The Impact Fund builds on Open Road’s 8+ years experience as the market leader in bridge financing.

Assess

The organizations we help all have strong business fundamentals but have hit an unexpected financing roadblock through no fault of their own. Through our proprietary risk assessment process specific to bridge financing, we evaluate the challenge facing these organizations and the potential for a short-term investment to generate high impact and a financial return.

Invest

We offer fast, flexible, and affordable funding—ranging from $100,000 to $1 million—to organizations with impact at their center, giving them fast access to short-term cash.

Return

Beyond keeping impact on track for social organizations providing critical services, investors also receive a 2 to 4 percent return on their investment—and an “impact return” that is many times greater.

Roadblocks Happen Everywhere. We Work Globally Across All Sectors to Ensure Maximum Impact.

Leveraged Impact

The Impact Fund targets high-impact investments. For each dollar invested, the Impact Fund returns $9 in Impact.

Open Road Alliance steps in at critical financial junctures in the lifecycle of social organizations and provides the kind of bridge financing that has been ignored by traditional finance and philanthropies, which either aren’t set up to do this type of work or don’t have the sector expertise to serve these types of borrowers.

Dr. Judith Rodin

Advisory Board Member, Open Road Impact Fund

Join Us

Learn more about our portfolio and investment opportunities with impact-first organizations that also have solid financials.

Impact Fund - Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Open Road Impact Fund?

The Impact Fund is a $40M fund established by Open Road Alliance that provides short-term bridge loans to social impact organizations that run into unexpected obstacles on their path to scale, thereby ensuring that these businesses survive and thrive. The Impact Fund provides investors the opportunity to access high impact investments across multiple geographies that also provide a financial return.

The Impact Fund is the first fund by Open Road that is open to outside investors including family offices, foundations, and impact-first investors. Impact Fund loans range from $100,000 to $1M and are extended to social impact organizations located primarily in Africa, U.S., Latin America, and South Asia. The Impact Fund is designed to provide investors with a return of 2-4%.

What impact will the Impact Fund provide investors?

All of the investments made by Open Road Ventures are high-impact investments. Open Road estimates that the Impact Fund, over the first five years, will disburse $100M in short-term loans across 200 organizations, keeping up to $1B of impact on track while providing investors with a financial return.

Our estimate is based on our own track record. For each dollar invested, Open Road Ventures returns $9 in impact. This 9x leverage has already resulted in $186M of additional impact across the ORV portfolio, to date.

What safeguards does Open Road use to ensure that borrowers repay their loans?

We are highly-specialized experts in the niche market of short-term bridge financing. Our first fund, Open Road Ventures, proved both the market need for this type of financing and our ability to successfully identify those organizations with the highest likelihood of repayment. ORV has a low borrower default rate of 0.3%.

Our proprietary risk assessment process is specific to the market of bridge financing. Core to Open Road’s repayment success is our customer service credo and focus on impact, which aligns our repayment with the goals of our borrowers. We source most of our pipeline directly from other impact investing organizations, creating a trusted network of referral partners.