As part of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors’ new mission and values, we are featuring in-depth profiles of key sponsored projects to highlight their work in creating a just world. Upstart Co-Lab (“Upstart”) connects money with creative people who make a difference and a profit, bringing the $8.4 trillion of socially responsible and impact investing capital in the U.S. to the $877 billion American creative economy. Upstart Co-Lab connects impact investing to fashion, food, film & TV, video games, and other creative industries to achieve deep social and environmental impact, commercial viability, and an innovative edge.

RPA spoke with the Founding Partner of Upstart Co-Lab, Laura Callanan, about Upstart’s work. Laura discussed Upstart Co-Lab’s origins, impact investing’s role in the creative economy, and how the creative economy serves as an on-ramp to economic opportunity for BIPOC and women entrepreneurs, offers 21st century quality jobs, and anchors vibrant communities. This interview reflects edits for length and clarity.

What was the impetus for creating Upstart Co-Lab, and how has your unique background contributed to its strategic direction?

I launched Upstart Co-Lab in 2016. Immediately prior, I was the senior deputy chair at the National Endowment for the Arts. From that vantage point, looking at the situation for artists and creatives across the U.S., I realized that while impact investing had grown substantially in the preceding 15 years, it was overlooking 5% of the American economy: the creative economy.

The creative economy is comprised of creative industries like fashion, film and television, video games, visual art, and more. I saw that artists, designers, and creative people were increasingly starting for-profit, social-purpose businesses. These types of businesses need impact investing for growth. But artists and designers were not successfully engaging impact investors.

That’s what Upstart Co-Lab is all about. We connect capital with creative people who make a profit and make a difference. We’re working at the intersection of impact investing and the creative economy in the United States.

My time at the National Endowment for the Arts, managing the endowment and co-leading the early impact investing efforts at The Rockefeller Foundation, and as a leader in McKinsey & Company’s social innovation practice informed my work at Upstart Co-Lab. I was a grantmaker as executive director of the Prospect Hill Foundation. Early in my career I spent six years on Wall Street helping large endowed nonprofit organizations borrow in the public markets. But before all that I majored in theater in college and began my career in arts administration. What we are doing at Upstart Co-Lab pulls on everything I’ve done since I was a 16-year-old theater intern: bringing my experience in the arts, in social change and philanthropy, and in investing and impact investing together.

Read the full article about impact investing at Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors.