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 end-beneficiary outcomes studies, drafted case studies and thought leadership on company impacts, helped draft ethical AI policies, and hosted webinars around key topics such as navigating the evolving DEI landscape.
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.
Click here: Leveraging Impact Data for Smarter Investing: CASE STUDY How SJF Ventures is “Bending the Curve” and Driving Sustainable…
– March 6, 2025
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.
From our inception in 1999, SJF has backed businesses that empower people — particularly those historically marginalized. Creating quality job opportunities in healthy, diverse, and ethical workforce environments can generate deep societal impact.
SJF tracks employment numbers, diversity, and employee engagement, among other indicators like turnover, to understand our portfolio’s workforce.
SJF collects data on the benefits and opportunities portfolio companies provide employees.
For startups, policies related to ethical best practices can help shape company norms early on.
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”
