Sustainable Jobs Fund was formed in 1999. Our original name set out the impacts we still pursue today—a clean, resilient environment and equitable opportunities. Though our strategy has expanded over our 25+ years of experience, we remain committed to these fundamental themes.
SJF invests across six sectors to address climate change and drive equitable opportunities. We use our expertise in these sectors to support portfolio companies working within and across them: from Take Command, which improves job quality by enabling small employers to offer health insurance, to Iron Sheepdog, which supports small business growth while reducing emissions in trucking. We believe environmental and social impacts are intersectional, and much of our portfolio represents that approach.
Because the biggest challenges we face aren’t confined to single sectors, neither is our investment strategy.
We invest to mitigate climate change and environmental degradation, including scaling clean energy and efficiency and reducing waste and carbon. We work across all areas of the economy, seeking energy and material flows that are more sustainable, affordable, and socially beneficial.
We were founded to invest in companies that help support disadvantaged individuals and communities. We continue to do so, with a deeper focus on investing in solutions to problems driving inequity, including through gainful employment, quality health and education access, and stronger civil institutions.
SJF has refined its strategy as the impact investing industry has evolved over the past 25+ years.
SJF provides capital to grow impactful businesses driving positive change across our six themes. Our impact acceleration team works in partnership with our investment professionals and portfolio companies. We support our portfolio companies in all things impact, such as reaching new, higher-need beneficiary groups, improving their employee value proposition, or upgrading their impact measurement practices. In the past year, we’ve brought in experts to support on talent development, sponsored end-beneficiary outcomes studies, and hosted webinars around key topics such as customer success strategy and generative AI best practices.
Every year, we ask our active portfolio companies to complete our Annual Impact Survey. We believe impact reporting should be a collaborative process, with input from all stakeholders — including Limited Partners, our portfolio companies, and their beneficiaries. With that in mind, we continue to review and adapt the survey to find the right balance between standardized metrics, company-specific measurements, and outcomes-driven beneficiary feedback.
We share this data back to our portfolio companies to help them benchmark their performance and provide ongoing support.
By Kelsey Jarrett And we’re back again. It’s time to talk about annual reporting. Every year, SJF Ventures conducts a comprehensive…
– December 11, 2024
From our inception in 1999, SJF has backed businesses that empower people. Creating quality job opportunities in healthy, diverse, and ethical workforce environments can generate deep societal impact. After we make an investment, SJF encourages portfolio companies to prioritize employee satisfaction and wellness through culture, DEI practices, benefits, and good governance.
In our annual survey, we measure several indicators of job quality including benefits, engagement, and wages. SJF portfolio companies excel in the benefits they provide, but there is room for improvement in establishing systems like employment surveys to continue to engage and respond to their workforces at scale.
We compared our portfolio data to industry benchmarks, where available.
new jobs created by SJF portfolio companies since our initial investment
offer healthcare benefits
offer wellness benefits
Comparable industry benchmark: 41%
offer a retirement plan
~70% of private US businesses offer retirement benefits (58% of small businesses)
gave bonuses last year
have a formal performance management and feedback process
conduct an employee satisfaction survey
Comparable industry benchmark: 74%
median response rate
Comparable industry benchmark: 80%
have a formal DEI policy
61% of US companies have policies in place for fairness in pay and hiring; 54% have explicit DEI programming
have a formal Employee Handbook or Code of Conduct in place
Through our collaborative work with peers and leading organizations, SJF extends our firm’s reach, shares lessons learned, and contributes to the success and growth of the impact investing field. SJF is a co-founding member of ICM, a network of over 110 market-rate impact funds.
By partnering with UpMetrics, SJF Ventures has been able to refine its impact measurement and management (IMM) practices, making them more actionable and transparent for both their investors and portfolio companies.
David Bank is joined by Dave Kirkpatrick, Managing Director and co-founder of SJF Ventures, a climate and impact investor in Durham NC, and SJF’s Director of Impact, Kelsey Jarrett, to talk about finding the alpha in impact.
Impact Capital Managers highlights how SJF meets its “IMM Fundamentals”
SJF included in Tideline research on driving both financial and impact performance through impact value creation
Tideline’s analysis of nearly 30 financial transactions from ICM-member investment portfolios, including SJF, uncovered 10 unique drivers of “impact alpha”
