The Pivot
SIIF became a shareholder in March 2024 and began receiving A0 financials in April. In August, A0 financials began to take a downturn and by November 2024, A0 leadership said most of its nature-based businesses were unprofitable. SIIF had been working with A0 leadership on developing a theory of change and IMM strategy which included strengthening community relationships. In November, the SIIF team pivoted to better understand A0 business needs and ways it could be supportive. As a foundation, SIIF has some flexibility in the type of technical assistance it can provide investees. At the same time, it still needs to balance its staffing demand and costs from its investees, especially as it would like to do similar As an impact investor, with limited time, energy, and resources your investees need assistance beyond your capacity —How do you manage the trade-off between your resources and the critical needs of your investee? What type of capital—philanthropy, loans, new investments—should be deployed to support A0 ventures? What is the role of SIIF in supporting A0 in difficult times? Who decides if A0 is trying to do too much? investments in other rural communities. SIIF faces several strategic questions:
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