Boston Impact Initiative published its 2020 Impact Report highlighting the resilient community of small businesses in Eastern Massachusetts and nascent economic justice investment funds across the country. 2020 was no ordinary year! The COVID-19 pandemic and economic crisis, paired with the renewed struggle for racial justice, made 2020 particularly challenging for BIPOC leaders. Through the generosity of supporters, we came together to provide BIPOC small businesses and workers with much-needed assistance by disbursing grant funds, putting in hundreds of hours of technical assistance and collaborating with partners to advocate for the needs of BIPOC-owned small businesses.

“Despite the odds, our portfolio companies demonstrated courage and resilience by creatively pivoting business models, relentlessly pursuing relief funds, and surviving–until they can once again thrive. Amid the uprisings in their cities, [fund-building] cohort members demonstrated leadership and engaged new and broad-based support for investing with a racial justice lens. We are living through a defining moment, and our collective ability to act with care, generosity and justice is being tested.”

– Excerpt from the letter from BII President and Founder, Deborah Frieze

In the BII Fund, our impact continues to have a positive effect on the community:

• The portfolio is majority run, governed and staffed by people of color;
• Total compensation in the portfolio was $28.5 M;
• The portfolio pays the vast majority of its workers above living wage; and
• Despite the pandemic, most companies grew revenue and raised follow-on capital.