Investing charitable capital for economic, social, and spiritual transformation

Impact Foundation is a 501(c)(3) public charity, founded in 2015, that allows families to recommend custom investments in their Impact Accounts (a donor advised fund). Through January 2024, our donor/investors have deployed more than $525 Million for impact.

Frequently Asked Questions

 

What allows you to do this when others can’t or won’t?

The IRS has granted us tax exempt status specifically to focus on investing for impact. Plus, our focused investment process allows us to move quickly and navigate this complex space. This agility is key when making venture capital and private equity investments. Finally, we have adopted an Investment Policy Statement custom-tailored to support impact investing. Read it yourself if you'd like (it's kind of long, but it spells out our philosophy and practice of investing): Investment Policy Statement

Describe your minimums and fees

Annual assessment on invested assets as follows:

  • Under $3M, 85bps (0.85%)

  • Between $3M to $5M, 65bps (0.65%)

  • Between $5M to $10M, 40bps (0.40%)

  • Over $10M, 30bps (0.30%)

When we make a new impact investment, we charge a one-time 3% origination “fee" on the total value of the investment. Our minimum investment is $25,000 with a $1,000 minimum origination fee.

We colloquially refer to these as “fees,” but it’s really a grant. We are a 501(c)(3) charity so both the annual and origination assessments are charitable contributions.

Are you a charity or a business?

Yes. We operate with the heart and structure of a charity and the business disciplines of our for-profit peers. We are a Georgia nonprofit corporation and recognized as tax exempt under 501(c)(3)—that means donors are eligible for a tax deduction when they contribute money to us. While complying with all the state and federal rules for charities, we view ourselves as a business. That means we have a revenue model and employ business disciplines customary of our for-profit peers.

 

What is an Impact Account?

An Impact Account is a donor advised fund at Impact Foundation, whose assets are legally owned by the foundation. We allow donors to advise on how their Impact Account will be invested within the parameters of the foundation's Investment Policy. This means a donor can select the companies in which it wants to invest so long as the company has positive social and/or spiritual impact. When those investments liquidate, the donor can choose to invest in another Impact Company or grant the money to another charity.

What is impact investing?

According to the Global Impact Investing Network, impact investments are "investments made into companies, organizations, and funds with the intention to generate social and environmental impact alongside a financial return. To the standard, we have added spiritual transformation as a key component.

All enterprises, regardless of tax status, can produce both social and financial results on a spectrum from positive to negative. Therefore, these investments can be in nonprofits, private companies, venture funds, or private equity funds, and may be structured as debt, equity, or a blend of the two.

What does it mean to categorize a company’s impact as “redemptive methodology”?

An enterprise whose primary positive impact on the world happens through the way business is conducted. Its leadership, being rooted in Christ, follows the Spirit to intentionally participate in God’s transformational work in the lives of employees, vendors, & customers while creating sustainable value.

To see redemptive methodology companies in our portfolio click here.

Team and Board

 

Left to right: Dan Voth, David Wills, Jonathan Harrison, Phil Bruce, Sharon Bremner, Steve Doerr, Jeff Johns, Greg Lernihan, Aimee Minnich, Ben McLain, Suzanne Chrisman, Bryan Chrisman, Alana Taube, Ben Howard.

 
  • co-Founder

    As Co-Founder and CEO of Impact Foundation, Jeff brings over 30 years of entrepreneurial and charitable expertise. The dedication and vision of Impact Foundation’s impact portfolio companies inspire and encourage him daily.

    Jeff previously led growth at National Christian Foundation, opening 30 NCF offices over a 12-year period. Jeff has served or lead the boards of The Gathering, The Seed Company and Axis ministries. Jeff and his wife Jacqlyn have a passion for education and launched Acton Academy Albuquerque to reimagine education for their three children and for their city. He earned a BA from Duke University and an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin. Jeff is a collegiate national skydiving champion and a novice mountain biker who can never seem to keep up with his kids.

  • co-Founder

    Aimee Minnich serves as Chief Impact Officer and General Counsel of Impact Foundation. Prior to founding Impact Foundation, she served as President and General Counsel for the National Christian Foundation, Heartland, where she designed and implemented the foundation’s Missional Investing Program to allow the investment of donor-advised funds in social impact companies. A recovering attorney, Aimee also serves as a Trustee with Praxis Mutual Funds.

    Aimee earned a Juris Doctor from the University of Kansas School of Law with honors and a BA in Philosophy, summa cum laude, from Rockhurst University. In addition to “The Profitable Charity,” she's published articles on law and a study on the metaphysics of salvation. Aimee and her husband Marshall live with their three adorable and high-energy kids in Kansas City.

  • Steve serves as Chief Operating Officer of Impact Foundation. Prior to joining the foundation, Steve spent more than 27 years at ExxonMobil, living and working in Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Africa.

    In his role as COO, Steve has developed and improved Impact Foundation’s operational structure and services for increased efficiency and excellence.

    Steve and his wife Kim have two grown children and recently moved to Kansas City to be closer to family and friends. A former professional soccer player and a CPA, he earned a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from Indiana University and a Masters in International Business Studies from the University of South Carolina. In his down time, Steve enjoys reading, watching sports (participating when he can) and learning about the world.

  • Neil brings his experience in venture capital and technology to Impact Foundation to help founders and investors work together to create exceptional businesses that share the gospel, make disciples, and create a God-honoring culture.

    Neil is also the Managing Partner of 1Flourish Capital, a venture capital firm based in Silicon Valley that invests in early-stage start-ups and mentors founders with Kingdom-aligned missions.

    Previously, Neil managed partnerships and investment processes at Google. He founded Abide Christian meditation, which received funding through Impact Foundation and sold to Guidepost in 2021.

    Neil and his wife Nadia live in San Francisco with their four children. Neil loves outdoor adventures, especially backpacking and sea kayaking.

  • Sharon serves as Executive Assistant and keeps Jeff and Aimee moving forward. She has a varied background in the fields of travel, education and distribution. She has been married for 30 years to her “Kiwi” husband, Don. They have a son who served for 5 years in the US Navy and is now finishing school, thanks to Uncle Sam.

    Sharon and Don live in Albuquerque with their 2-year-old puppy, Murfy.

    Interesting facts: Sharon lived through over 10,000 earthquakes in New Zealand and was introduced to American Barbershop in Christchurch with the Sweet Adelines. She sang bass with them for 4 years and competed internationally.

  • Phil is a qualified Chartered Accountant and Trust Estate Practitioner, with over 15 years of experience in accounting and trust administration.

    From 1998 to 2005, Phil was employed by Ernst & Young in Bermuda where he became Senior Manager, focusing on the creation, planning, execution and operation of a Private Client business unit within E&Y. In 2011, Phil established the CrossWater Group. Phil is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland, the Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada and Bermuda, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bermuda and the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (Bermuda). Phil resides in Raleigh, North Carolina with his wife Anne and two children.

  • Chris serves as Senior Advisor, helping to articulate the collective impact of the organization and our portfolio companies. He works closely with them to achieve, measure, and report their individual impact and coordinates efforts toward reporting shared metrics of the organization.

    Chris graduated from the University of Georgia and Denver Seminary and served on staff with HOPE International. In 2014, he launched Amplio Recruiting, a for-profit staffing agency that connects refugees to jobs around the U.S. He exited the business in 2021 after growing a successful company and placing over 12,000 refugees into full-time employment.

    Since the acquisition, Chris has been a business coach for redemptive founders and is passionate about helping our portfolio companies strategically pursue their mission. Chris and his wife Sarah live on Amelia Island, Florida, with their 3 young kids and play putt-putt as often as possible.

  • Before joining the team at Impact Foundation, Bryan served as President of The National Christian Foundation Colorado (NCFC). He was a huge proponent of using charitable capital in donor-advised funds for impact investing and helping the Impact Foundation launch. As our Senior Advisor, Bryan continues to serve families and encourage other NCF Affiliates to unleash the power of impact investing with the Givers they serve.

    Before NCF, Bryan spent 26 years launching two start-up life insurance companies.

    Bryan currently lives in Kitty Hawk, NC, with his wife, Suzanne. They met while attending Texas Tech University, where he earned a Bachelor of Business Administration, Marketing. Bryan enjoys traveling, especially seeing their three grown children who live in Houston, Montana, and Australia, and serving in his local church.

  • Suzanne is passionate about prayer to see God’s generosity change the world. She serves Impact Foundation as Prayer Lead. Previously, she served as Chief Prayer Officer for the National Christian Foundation of Colorado, Intercessor and Prayer Leader for Women Doing Well, District Area Coordinator for Moms in Prayer. She has led prayer gatherings for Colorado Christian University, National Day of Prayer, Pastors for Revival, and her local church.

    She is a Texas Tech Alum with a background in hospitality and loves hosting guests from around the world. She and Bryan have been married for 33 years, and they enjoy being empty nesters living on mission together and traveling worldwide to see their three grown children.

    After 17 years of living in the mountains of Colorado, they relocated back to Suzanne’s hometown area of the Outerbanks of North Carolina to enjoy the beach life. Suzanne loves hiking, biking, long walks on the beach, and FaceTime calls with her children.

  • Bill leads Impact Foundation’s digital technology strategy that fuels and facilitates our vision with systems initiatives to scale, accelerate and expand the operations that serve our mission.

    Bill has decades of technical leadership experience and consultative solution engineering across a dozen industries, including NASA research for Automation and Robotics, automatic machine planning for WalMart store expansion, oil-rig movement processes for Transocean, and workflow automation for energy plant construction, design manufacturing, national sales teams, and insurance carriers. He holds a bachelor's degree in Computer Science and a master's degree concentrated in Computational Theory and Artificial Intelligence, both from Purdue University.

    Bill and his wife Sarah live amidst the cornfields of Indiana, delight in ministering to marriages, and are blessed with four adult children and their growing families.

  • Pavia serves on the Impact Foundation team as a Bridge Builder between our donor/investors and portfolio companies. She is tasked with stewarding the relationship post-investment and ensuring all parties have detailed information available throughout the lifetime of their investment.

    As a University of Alabama graduate, she obtained her dual degree in Spanish and International Relations in Tuscaloosa and a brief stint at the University of Havana.

    Starting her professional career at the National Christian Foundation, Pavia ended her tenure there in the Gift Advisor role, helping families steward incredible generosity through their privately held complex assets. While at NCF, she obtained her MBA from Mississippi State University and implemented significant process and service level improvements for givers.

    Pavia lives in Huntsville, Alabama, where she enjoys spending time in her garden with her yellow lab Cotton.

  • Ben has lived at the crossroads of art, commerce, and faith for over 30 years.

    Ben brings his experience in the entertainment business to help creatively gifted people exercise those gifts in a way that can build an ongoing business actively engaged in helping people find hope and meaning through storytelling.

    Ben is also CEO of THIRD COAST CONTENT, a media company based in Nashville that develops and produces film and television projects to tell stories that inspire people to hope and find meaning in life. The company released BLUE MIRACLE, starring Dennis Quaid, on Netflix in 2021, becoming the #2 movie worldwide.

    In 2021, Ben launched Bonniedale Films in partnership with business partner Dennis Quaid to tell inspiring stories of American heroes who did great things against long odds.

  • Courtney serves as the marketing director, stewarding strategic initiatives and communication to advance awareness of Impact Foundation and its unique ability to connect donor/investors to fund transformation.

    A graduate of the University of Missouri’s School of Journalism, Courtney’s career has centered on marketing and sales—as a strategist at several Kansas City area advertising agencies and serving “client-side” in marketing roles for non-profits, healthcare, software, and telecom companies, and most recently home services. She’s thrilled to focus her skills on redemptive philanthropy and enterprises that create impact.

    Courtney and her husband, Tim, live in Kansas City. They’re proud parents of four adult children, their spouses, and “Mimi and Poppy” to three precious grandchildren. She enjoys gardening, traveling, and connecting with friends.

  • Ray Jarrett serves at Impact Foundation as a Products & Services Ambassador. He guides our donor/investors as they make transformational investments with their Impact Accounts.

    An Air Force veteran, Ray attended Central State University in Edmond, OK., where he majored in Computer Science. Before joining Impact Foundation, he had a long and varied career in Information Technology. He continues to work tirelessly with Unite KC, a faith-based nonprofit organization with a vision for racial healing in Kansas City.

    An accomplished ghostwriter and author of several books, Ray always manages to slip a Star Trek reference in every book!

    Ray serves on the board of directors for Advice & Aid, Thrivent (Midwest), and The Culture House. He loves to read, play the sax, and follow the Chiefs.

    Ray and his wife, Lorna, live in Kansas City and have four grown kids who have explored the face of the globe and given them five beautiful grandchildren.

  • Geoffrey brings his detailed accounting skills and background in banking and investing to Impact Foundation to serve as Assistant Financial Controller. His passion for people, serving, knowing, and helping them makes him a great fit for the team.

    Born and raised in Kansas City, Geoffrey graduated from The University of Kansas with a BA in Business Administration. He and his wife Jacqueline were first introduced in 2nd grade and then met again later as adults and married.

    Geoffrey is one of six children; his younger brother and sister are adopted from Ethiopia. He and Jacqueline live in the Kansas City area. He enjoys working on cars and reading, especially GK Chesterton, Dietrich von Hildebrand, and Tolkien.

  • Alana serves as the Chief of Staff for Impact Foundation, providing transaction support and investing in growth initiatives that further the foundation’s mission.

    Before joining Impact Foundation, Alana led the “skunk works” team for a national nonprofit in Silicon Valley. She is an experienced consultant for family foundations, passionate about stewarding God’s resources well.

    Alana graduated with her BA in Political Science from The University of California, Berkeley. She received her MBA from The University of Chicago, Booth School of Business, where she was a Forté Fellow and Tarrson Social Venture Fellow. She continues to coach MBA classes in social entrepreneurship.

    Alana lives in the Philadelphia suburbs with her husband, David, and young son.

  • Dan serves as Investor Concierge of Impact Foundation and is a qualified Chartered Accountant with over 20 years of experience in offshore fund administration and financial services in Bermuda.

    Dan left the hedge fund industry to co-found CrossWater Global Foundation, ultimately leading him to serve at Impact Foundation.

    As Investor Concierge, Dan oversees our impact companies' transaction deal flow process and portfolio management.

    Dan and his wife Joanne have 3 grown children and reside in Raleigh, NC. Dan is a CrossFiter and novice road biker who enjoys the outdoors, especially hiking with Stanley the Bernedoodle

  • Dana brings tremendous experience and knowledge to Impact Foundation in her role as Senior Advisor. Her calling is “to build community around ideas,” and the idea she is most excited about is impact investing that achieves multiple bottom lines— financial, economic/social, environmental, and spiritual.

    Dana has a master’s degree in International Economic Development from Columbia University. For 20 years, she worked for the US Agency for International Development and the International Trade Administration, managing a large team and directing millions of dollars in foreign aid.

    In addition to co-founding the Washington, D.C. Chapter of Faith Driven Entrepreneurs and Investors, Dana facilitates small groups for Generous Giving, Faith Driven Investor, and Women Doing Well and serves on the Talanton, Noble Story Co, and Five Talents boards. Dana lives in the greater Washington, D.C. area with her husband, Bill. They have three grown children.

 
 

Core Values

ABIDING IN THE HOLY SPIRIT, WE:

Live joyfully and generously.

Serve with integrity.

Pray faithfully and expectantly.

Pursue redemptive innovation.

Simplify the message and process.