StartingUpGood

YAMA, a France-based company that developed an electrified carbon capture technology, and Singapore-based Metha8, that developed a methanol-to-power system, claimed the top prizes at the 9th edition of the global innovation competition, backed by Temasek Foundation with new support from Singapore government agency A*Star. eco-business.com/news/electrifi…

Anyone who has ever struggled with poverty knows how terribly expensive it is to be poor. This line framed a candid conversation about what philanthropy can actually fix at the Milken Institute 2026 Global Conference. Four leading funders shared what works, what lasts, and what they would change about the way capital reaches families. What stood out 💵 Put money directly in people's hands. One matched savings program turns $1,000 saved into $3,000, helping families clear debt and put down payments on homes 🏠 Treat housing as a capital stack problem. Ballmer Group is targeting families at 50 percent of area median income, using philanthropic capital to help make safe, affordable housing possible 👶 Early childhood is the highest leverage point, yet there is no real system. One bet funds 10,000 pre-K seats at $170 million a year for a decade 🏛️ Unstick capital that already exists. Roughly $8 billion in small business credit sits unused, waiting on simpler rules and technical help 🤝 Stop cutting checks in silos. The real unlock is convening, de-risking, and scaling what already works Philanthropy cannot fix market failures alone, but it can de-risk the ideas that do. Panelists: David Clunie - President, Principal, and Head, Community Impact, Edward Jones Foundation Roma Kaundal - Managing Director and Head, US Philanthropy, JPMorganChase Terri Ludwig - CEO, Ballmer Group Carla D. Thompson Payton - Chief Strategist and Impact Officer, W.K. Kellogg Foundation Moderator: Rachel Reilly - Senior Director, Finance, Milken Institute milkeninstitute.org/content-hub/ev…

Learn more about how Conduit Capital is launching the Pioneer Gap Impact Platform Fund, an inaugural $20 million blended capital vehicle with 20% philanthropic first-loss, 30% junior equity, 50% senior equity. impactalpha.com/mind-the-pione…

Hope is not optimism. As Milken Institute's Melissa Stevens put it to open this #MIGlobal 2026 panel, hope is being in the driver's seat. These philanthropy leaders unpacked what that demands right now. 🤝 Stop playing tennis, start playing basketball. John Palfrey of the MacArthur Foundation says no single funder can solve big problems alone, so play your position on a team 🛡️ Defend the freedom to give. Palfrey and Tonya Allen of the McKnight Foundation co-led Unite in Advance to protect the sector under pressure 💸 Treat the 5% payout as a floor, not a ceiling. MacArthur set its at 6%, and the Gates Foundation under Mark Suzman is spending down by 2045 🏗️ Build a builder's culture, not a fixer's culture. Allen urges funders to listen first to the people closest to the pain 📊 Make inclusion the plumbing. Shamina Singh of the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth ties data and technology to real economic mobility 🔓 Get capital off the sidelines. Maura Pally of the Blackstone Charitable Foundation wants to make giving less intimidating so donor-advised fund dollars move into communities #Philanthropy is society's risk capital. The mandate now is courage. ow.ly/v2Ee50Z2tOz #Philanthropy #ImpactInvesting

Uplift Microhome wins $100K in MIT's annual startup pitch competition. It’s reusable, modular housing units have their own power and water access, allowing them to be quickly transported and placed off-grid to provide housing to people affected by natural disasters and other emergencies. ow.ly/QqIw50Z2qhF

Earlier this month, the Milken Institute Global Conference assembled a panel of CEOs who have built purpose into the operational and financial core of their companies to discuss making strategic calls that prioritize principles alongside profit. Speakers: Marvin Ellison - Chairman, President, and CEO, Lowe's Ryan Gellert - CEO, Patagonia Linda Hubbard - President and CEO, Carhartt, Inc. Daniel Lubetzky - Founder, Builders and KIND Snacks Hamdi Ulukaya - Founder and CEO, Chobani Moderator: Diane Brady, Executive Editorial Director, Fortune Watch the full conversation (with free registration): ow.ly/itm150Z2sJy

Sasha Luccioni, former climate lead of Hugging Face and co-founder of Sustainable AI Group, argues that companies can manage AI energy consumption by using smaller learning models and running queries on local computers. Learn more: ow.ly/kNHg50Z2pWS

A new report from Boston Women's Fund and the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy at UMass Boston puts hard numbers behind a hard truth. Grassroots leaders of color hold communities together while philanthropy looks away. What the data shows 👇 📊 Of $112B in Greater Boston nonprofit revenue, just $25M reached groups serving women and girls of color 💰 More than 60% of women and girls funding flows to only five large institutions, none focused on women of color 👥 Organizations led by women of color run on the lowest average revenue, just over $300K, with the smallest staffs and lowest pay 🔥 Chronic underfunding and unrealistic expectations drive burnout that harms health, relationships, and the ability to lead The fix is not more rhetoric. It is multi-year unrestricted funding, simpler reporting, open networks, and shared decision-making power with the leaders closest to the work. Learn more: bostonwomensfund.org/carryingthewei…

Causeartist's May newsletter highlights social entrepreneurship innovations from solar to #AIforGood: ow.ly/o7Gb50Z2NPX

Despite reports that it was pausing its carbon-removal deals, Microsoft is purchasing 650,000 metric tons of carbon-removal credits from startup BioCirc. Microsoft is reportedly responsible for more than 90% of the carbon-removal credit market. The new deal suggests that Microsoft is not abandoning its carbon-removal program. ow.ly/vlnX50Z2Nnx

New research from the AI for the Global Majority (AI4GM) - a joint initiative of the Geneva Graduate Institute, Microsoft, and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) - shows how AI in finance simultaneously enables inclusion and creates new forms of risk. The team will present its findings at the AI for Good Global Summit in Geneva (7-10 July 2026): ow.ly/woS650Z2Mt3

Great recap of last week's Solve at MIT event in today's newsletter: solve-5593819.hs-sites.com/may-crowdsolve. Learn about winning solutions and inspiring speakers. Subscribe for future newsletters: solve.mit.edu/newsletters

Only 0.5% of foundation giving in the US goes to women and girls of color. Candid reports on new Boston Women's Fund research on equitable grantmaking. Funders can better support women of color nonprofit leaders with multiyear unrestricted grants, wellness stipends, lighter reporting. ow.ly/ImTN50Z2ru5

Social impact leaders feeling overwhelmed on where to start with #AI can use these 4 fundamental questions to help frame early conversations and ground AI strategy in purpose, organizational capacity, and values. ow.ly/l9Bu50Z2r1B

The robot apocalypse is not what keeps Oxford AI professor Michael Wooldridge up at night. After more than 30 years in the field, his message is refreshingly grounded. The real story is what AI quietly does well. Key takeaways from his latest Guardian interview: 🔬 The breakthroughs hiding in plain sight. An Oxford team built an AI tool that reads a heart scan from a simple phone-sent ultrasound, putting expensive diagnostics within reach at near-zero cost. 🧠 Hype distorts the picture. Wooldridge argues large language models "suck the oxygen out of the room," drowning out the steady, high-impact uses of AI in health, climate, and public services. ⚖️ Realistic limits are a feature. Today's AI can debate quantum physics yet cannot clear your dinner table. Naming what AI cannot do builds the trust that adoption needs. ow.ly/4x5w50Z2fvQ #AIforGood #ResponsibleAI

Good @ImpactAlpha overview of how the Total Impact Summit '26 sought to reshape how capital and innovation flow to drive economic prosperity and power for overlooked people and underserved communities: ow.ly/bEUL50Z2ePS

@RockefellerFdn's 2025 impact report details $350 million in grants, $3 billion directly mobilized, and $29 billion in additional capital — reaching 731 million people. The release frames the foundation's bets on energy access, food-as-medicine, and AI-powered disease alerts as a counterweight to the 23% one-year drop in global official development assistance. ow.ly/hehi50Z1EHC

BloombergNEF’s New Energy Outlook 2026 reveals that recent, successive energy market shocks could be a boon for the energy transition as some countries look to decouple from imported fossil fuels and bolster their energy security. about.bnef.com/insights/clean…

@CEPData releases State of Nonprofits 2026: What Funders Need To Know. Download the full report: ow.ly/9YqR50Z1F33

Women's health gets just 20% of global R&D funding, and more than half of that goes to only two conditions. The cost of that imbalance is a $1 trillion drag on global GDP by 2040. A new Women's Health Innovation Radar from the World Economic Forum, Kearney, Gates Foundation and Wellcome Leap maps where science, funding, and patient need fall out of sync across 10 high-impact conditions from 2016 to 2025. What the data reveals 👇 1️⃣ Funding is concentrated. Ovarian cancer and menopause dominate, while ischemic heart disease and PMS stay starved relative to their burden. 2️⃣ Evidence is thin. Fewer than 3% of clinical trials are women-specific, so we still know little about how diseases manifest and respond to treatment in women. 3️⃣ Pipelines stall. In anxiety, 112 programs were in development over a decade. Only 4 products launched. These three gaps reinforce each other, and the system shows no signs of self-correcting. Author Shyam Bishen argues the fix requires aligning funding to female disease burden, cross-sector collaboration, and regulatory agility that lets safe innovation scale. What is good for women's health is good for everyone, and the radar finally gives investors a map. fortune.com/2026/05/18/wom…