March 2015

SANTA CLARA, Calif., March 24, 2015 –Santa Clara University’s Center for Science, Technology, and Society will host an evening celebrating pioneers of impact investing on April 30, at its second annual Magis event. 

 

The purpose of this year’s Magis is to honor the “quiet builders,” humble individuals whose work embodies broad vision and systemic change through impact investing and social entrepreneurship. The 2015 Magis honorees are Lisa and Charly Kleissner, co-founders of the KL Felicitas Foundation, and Matt Flannery, co-founder of social enterprise Kiva.

 

Lisa and Charly Kleissner pioneered the theory and practice of “100 percent impact investing,” by targeting both a financial and impact return across their portfolio of investable assets. Employing this strategy, Charly and Lisa have brought together investors who have also committed 100 percent of their investable assets to impact. Currently, over 50 asset owners representing close to $4 billion are active members of this global group. Tireless advocates, Lisa and Charly write, speak, and teach about impact investing to investors, entrepreneurs and intermediaries in the global north and south. Their work over the last 15 years has influenced a generation of family offices, foundations, and high net worth individuals into moving into impact.

 

The Kleissners were also the first to share the financial results of their foundation's impact portfolio in 2013 and will be publishing the impact report for this portfolio later this year.

 

The Kleissners co-founded Toniic, an action network of global impact investors and they are also co-founders of three social enterprise accelerators (in India, Austria for Central and Eastern Europe and Hawai'i for the Pacific Basin). 

 

Matt Flannery co-founded the first successful microfinance marketplace, Kiva, which connects microentrepreneurs without access to traditional loans to “crowdsourced” funds from millions of individuals worldwide. Kiva’s internationally acclaimed work has helped 1.5 million borrowers in 86 countries receive $682 million in loans with a 98.8 percent repayment rate. 

 

“Both the Kleissners and Matt Flannery disrupted the status quo with innovative and entrepreneurial endeavors that put money to work for meaning,” said Thane Kreiner, Ph.D., executive director of the Center. “We believe these leaders uniquely embody the shining spirit of Magis -- the unceasing quest for what more each of us can do for the greater good.”

 

The Magis event will be held in Santa Clara University’s Mission Gardens, and will feature a showcase of innovations from social entrepreneurs from around the world; the research of student Global Social Benefit Fellows; an awards program; and a grand dinner. Proceeds benefit the Center’s programs, including the flagship Global Social Benefit Institute (GSBI®), which empowers social entrepreneurs through quality training and robust mentorship from Silicon Valley executive business mentors. The awards to Flannery and the Kleissners will be presented by last year's honoree, Sally Osberg, president and CEO of the Skoll Foundation; and John Kohler, co-founder of Toniic and director of Impact Capital at the Center for Science, Technology, and Society. 

 

Magis is a Latin term for “more” coined by St. Ignatius of Loyola to encourage others to live and give generously. 

 

Founded in 1997, the Center for Science, Technology, and Society is one of three Centers of Distinction at Santa Clara University. The Centers embody the University’s mission to bring together University students and faculty, the Silicon Valley community, and international social entrepreneurs, who are employing innovative approaches to tackle the world’s most challenging problems and create a more just, humane, and sustainable world. Through programs such as the GSBI®. the Center has worked with over 350 social enterprises, affording it unique insights into leading business models and innovations for the developing world and emerging markets. To learn more about the Center or any of its social benefit programs, please visit www.scu.edu/socialbenefit.

 

About Santa Clara University
Santa Clara University, a comprehensive Jesuit, Catholic university located 40 miles south of San Francisco in California’s Silicon Valley, offers its more than 9,000 students rigorous undergraduate curricula in arts and sciences, business, and engineering; master’s degrees in business, education, counseling psychology, pastoral ministry, and theology; and law degrees and engineering Ph.Ds. Distinguished nationally by one of the highest graduation rates among all U.S. master’s universities, California’s oldest operating higher-education institution demonstrates faith-inspired values of ethics and social justice. For more information, see www.scu.edu.

 

Media Contacts
Deborah Lohse | SCU Media Relations | dlohse@scu.edu | 408-554-5121
Jaime Gusching | CSTS Marketing Manager; jgusching@scu.edu |408 -551- 6048