As interest in impact and environmental, social, and governance investing grows, one challenge remains stubbornly persistent: the lack of early-stage capital for entrepreneurs developing technologies that advance social initiatives and support economic mobility.
The ECMC Foundation and JFF Ventures, a venture capital fund manager, have found common cause in addressing this gap by expanding access to funding for entrepreneurs and managers often overlooked by traditional investors.
“When we talk about democratizing access to capital, it’s about bringing capital to bear where it hasn’t traditionally been,” said Jessie Haselton, ECMC Foundation’s managing director. “It allows us to expand our impact across the Foundation and within the ecosystem.”
ECMC Foundation is a nationally focused post-secondary education funder dedicated to improving higher-education outcomes and expanding economic mobility for underserved learners through evidence-based innovation. “Our mission is about improving higher education for career readiness among underserved populations,” said Haselton. “We advance social and economic mobility for learners, job seekers, and the broader workforce.”
The Foundation pursues this work through a wide range of funding tools — from strategic grants to program-related investments. It was an early investor in JFF Ventures’ pilot fund (at the time called the Employment Technology Fund), alongside other nonprofits such as the Walmart Foundation, the Kellogg Foundation, the Joyce Family Foundation, and the Rockefeller Foundation.
The initial fund itself was initially incubated at the Rockefeller Foundation, where managing partner Yigal Kerszenbaum previously oversaw a global portfolio of impact and program-related investments. The pilot fund tested whether early-stage companies focused on workforce advancement could attract capital and scale. The results were strong and Kerszenbaum’s team later spun out the fund and partnered with Jobs for the Future, gaining access to experts and networks built over decades.
“It allowed us to deliver nationwide impact and anticipate how automation and [artificial intelligence] would affect this workforce segment, setting the stage for the current JFF Ventures Economic Mobility Fund,” he said.
JFF Ventures operates like a very traditional venture fund, noted Kerszenbaum, but with a focus on people earning less than $50K a year or learners who have historically been overlooked and underserved. This population represents roughly 120 million adults in the U.S., a “massive venture-backable market,” he added. The goal is to build high-growth companies while delivering meaningful impact for workers navigating education, training, and employment pathways.
The newest round of the fund backs early-stage, tech-enabled solutions that help low- to moderate-income workers access the skills, support, and jobs needed for economic advancement — directly aligning with ECMC Foundation’s mission.
The Foundation blends multi-year initiatives addressing persistent barriers in higher education with flexible funding pools that allow it to stay responsive amid shifts in the post-secondary and workforce landscape. A central element of its strategy is its use of theories of change. “Each initiative has a theory of change,” explained Haselton. “It helps us define the problem, identify solutions, determine resource allocation, and specify levers for impact. It maps short-, intermediate-, and long-term outcomes. Essentially, it’s a roadmap.”
ECMC Foundation has been able to tap into investments that support students’ real-time needs. One example is its Basic Needs Initiative, which ensures access to transportation, childcare, housing, and nutrition — foundational factors for academic success. Investments include an emergency aid platform that delivers microgrants within 24 hours and another that connects students with childcare resources and subsidies.
ECMC Foundation allocates up to 10% of its portfolio to program-related investments. It evaluates early-stage companies using a five-factor model that prioritizes mission alignment, evidence-based innovation, impact potential, and a focus on historically underserved learners. For fund commitments such as JFF Ventures, the lens shifts toward transformational change.
“Investing in a fund democratizes access to capital for managers who haven’t historically had it,” said Haselton. “A single check can reach dozens of companies across the country. It’s a tremendous amplification of impact.”
The partnership thrives on shared values, collaborative deal flow, and joint support for founders through programming, panels, and broad networks. “That type of alignment is rare — but when you find it, it creates enormous collective value.”
Despite the growing interest in the social dimension of ESG, investment in workforce and education technology remains limited. “There is a strong group of impact-focused investors, especially from foundations and corporate philanthropy,” said Haselton. “But we haven’t seen as much investment as we would have liked over the past few years.”
She added that prior to the pandemic, an early-stage company had nearly a 50% chance of raising a Series A, but today, that rate has fallen to less than 20%.
“We’re just not seeing capital flow in the same way,” she said. “It makes the role that JFF Ventures plays even more important — finding companies with innovative solutions and broadening access to capital in a tighter environment.”
