Artist Rob Strati on inherited objects, the limits of market price, and the creative possibilities…
34
0
Counting what we fail to prevent, sixty seconds at a time
59
0
How collateral rules and payment terms keep impact capital out of reach
168
0
How states can crowd in local early-stage capital
348
0
Why last-mile healthcare needs an operating model, not just more mobile clinics
321
0
How Australia’s succession wave could turn ownership into a funding model
436
0
u003cpu003e
u003cpu003e$15.00
$15.00Add to cart
u003c/pu003eu003cpu003eu003c/pu003e
u003cpu003eu003cstrongu003eBuilding a Vibrant Impact Ecosystem with Jim Sorensonu003c/strongu003eu003c/pu003enu003cpu003eBuilding a robust impact investment market requires establishing a healthy, supportive ecosystem. Impact investors, just like conventional investors, depend on the work of researchers, advisors, wealth managers, entrepreneurs, industry experts, and others to make well-informed, successful investments. Moving from a single bottom line to triple bottom line set of priorities, however, requires embracing additional complexities and utilizing creative problem-solving, especially around such challenges as impact measurement.u003c/pu003enu003cpu003eSuccessfully growing early-stage impact enterprises necessitates a similar level of comfort with complexity and creative experimentation. Strategic pivots and unorthodox funding strategies are often the norm for impact entrepreneurs and their businesses.u003c/pu003enu003cpu003eIn this live fireside chat and audience Qu0026amp;A, Impact Entrepreneur’s Laurie Lane-Zucker welcomes one of the founding voices of the impact investing movement, u003cstrongu003eJim Sorenson,u003c/strongu003e founder of the Sorenson Impact Group, for a far-ranging conversation about impact investing, impact entrepreneurship, and impact field-building.u003c/pu003e
u003ch3u003eFeaturingu003c/h3u003e
Jim Sorenson is a global impact leader, and one of the founding voices in the impact investment movement. Since the start of his career, first as an entrepreneur and then as an investor, Jim has focused on mission-driven investments that prioritize profit and purpose.
The son of a self-made billionaire and entrepreneur, Jim grew up surrounded by innovation and business. When it came time to launch his own career Jim went off on his own before returning to the family business. In 2002, he was about to fundraise for one of those businesses, Sorenson Media, when the dot.com bust derailed those plans, forcing Jim and his team back to the drawing board.
Out of that crisis Sorenson Communications was born, a technology business that provides communications services for the deaf community. Sorenson Communications soon became the world’s largest employer of the deaf. In 2005, the business was spun out and sold in what was the largest private equity deal in Utah to date.
His experience with Sorenson Communications opened Jim’s eyes to the real meaning of profit and purpose. Deaf educators estimate that the services provided by Sorenson Communications have increased employment for the hearing-impaired fourfold.
In June, Jim launched Sorenson Impact Group (SIG) as a multi-faceted center for impact investing, to advance the field of impact investing, drive capital to impact investing, institutionalize, and scale the sector. At the Sorenson Impact summit, also in June, SIG announced that it was taking over the operations of SOCAP, the cornerstone impact investing conference, now in its 15th year.
Jim strongly believes that to solve the biggest challenges facing our society the impact ecosystem must align through a more holistic approach to impact investing, with a focus on actionable results at scale.
u003ch3u003eHostu003c/h3u003e
Laurie Lane-Zucker is Founder and CEO of Impact Entrepreneur, PBC, an impact economy business that hosts the Impact Entrepreneur Network — a large, global network of “systems-minded” entrepreneurs, investors, and scholars of social and environmental innovation — and editor and publisher of Impact Entrepreneur, a digital magazine covering the emerging Impact Economy. For over 30 years, Laurie has been a “pioneer” (Forbes) and recognized leader in sustainability, social enterprise, and impact investing. Laurie was the founding Executive Director of the international environmental organization, Orion Society, which publishes the celebrated Orion Magazine, as well as the founder of a global sustainability think-tank, the Triad Institute, and Hotfrog, a Founding B Corporation, GIIRS Pioneer Company, and the first company ever to complete an equity transaction on an impact investment exchange. Laurie is the bestselling and multiple award-winning publisher and editor of books and magazines on sustainability and social impact — having worked with such acclaimed authors as Wendell Berry, Barry Lopez, Terry Tempest Williams, and David James Duncan — and the author of numerous articles on entrepreneurship and impact investing. Laurie is contributing author to the academic textbook from World Scientific, Sustainability: Business and Investment Implications. His new book, The Impact Entrepreneur Breakthrough: A Field Manual for the Regenerative Economy, was published by Berrett-Koehler in September 2026, with global distribution by Penguin Random House.