Echoing Green, a global social venture fund based in New York City, has announced the launch of the Signal Fund, a financial tool that provides capital to social innovators at critical growth stages.

The $15.6 million fund will support organizations with overlooked potential for scalable social impact. As part of a two-year pilot, the Signal Fund aims to make 20 investments in recipients of the Echoing Green Fellowship. The fund already has disbursed $3.6 million to 12 social innovators and their organizations, including Good Call, Bloc Power, and Mission Launch, which in turn have leveraged an additional $18 million in funding for their organizations.

Despite being among the most powerful drivers of social change, many social innovators aren’t receiving the capital they need to scale when they need it most. This funding disparity is even greater for leaders of color. In 2019, research from Echoing Green and the Bridgespan Group found 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 white-led groups. A 2023 study from McKinsey found that start-ups led by underrepresented founders (including women) received only 43 percent of the funding received by white male founded start-ups.

“In the current economic climate, fundraising for entrepreneurs has become increasingly difficult,” said Echoing Green president Cheryl L. Dorsey. “Through Signal Fund, we are strengthening and de-risking a new pipeline of social innovators—ones that we believe will expand the set of leaders who are too often overlooked by mainstream philanthropy and financial institutions. This fund can help proven social innovators move past the proverbial valley of death that so many start-ups face, achieving organizational milestones recognizable to traditional investors without compromising impact.”

(Photo credit: Getty Images/FG Trade)