Cogent Consulting converted to a Specific Benefit Corporation on December 18th, 2018, after 20 years in business. We are an independent, strategic, impact investing firm empowering purpose-driven organizations to invest in line with their values. Impact investments are made to generate a positive, measurable social and environmental impact alongside a financial return.

We work with a diverse set of mission-driven investors and entrepreneurs through evidence-based and actionable advice. Our work serves foundations, corporations, and impact investing place-based ecosystems. Our 2024 clients included Allina Health, the Barra Foundation, the Minnesota Council on Foundations, the Blandin Foundation, and LISC Twin Cities.

Pursuant to Section 304A.101 of the Minnesota Statutes, Cogent Consulting SBC pursues the following specific benefit purpose as listed in its articles:

To empower purpose-driven organizations that drive positive social impact in their communities.

Cogent Consulting, SBC accomplishes its specific benefit purpose with all of its clients and pro bono work. We achieved this work through focus on the following five areas:

1. Connect capital to social enterprises through advising institutional investors:
   • The total assets that clients invested with Cogent’s input is $291,533,800.  This year, Cogent’s work was primarily in the Minnesota Twin Cities area and the Philadelphia area. Notable projects included:
     1. Allina Health’s investment in the MniSota Fund, a CDFI making business loans to Native Americans.
     2. The Barra Foundation’s investment in Innovate Capital, an Enterprise Center new fund to address the missing middle small business capital gap.

2. Grow the impact investing field:
   • In 2024, Impact Engine, a venture capital public benefit corporation based in Chicago, contracted with Cogent Consulting to provide an overview of the scale and scope of  Impact Investing activity in the Midwest.  Our work uncovered a vast amount of activity that had not been visible previously.  The full report can be found here.
   • Cogent continued work on the Investors4Impact project launched in May 2022. This project addresses the need for equity investments in social businesses owned by individuals in marginalized communities. Cogent researched the needs of investors, discovered the current gaps in capital, and researched promising local and national models to address these needs.
     1. The research for this project was informed by talking with 80+ investors, analyzing 60 models, and market testing findings with selected ecosystem leaders.
     2. Randy Olson, Cogent Principal, found through interviews that major contributors to the incredible amount of wealth in the Twin Cities want a third party to align their investments with social impact, so long as market-rate returns are feasible. 
     3. We formed an advisory committee to bring together diverse perspectives on what is needed for improvement in the ecosystem.
     4. The first of what will be regular events was held in the fall of 2024 bringing vetted investment opportunities to impact investors in the Twin Cities.

• Cogent Consulting added two more talented investment experts to the team, Ryan McDermott, CFA, based in Boston, and Somalisa Sahoo, based in Philadelphia.  

3. Dispelling myths of impact investing through education:
   • The Cogent Team regularly provided customized training on Impact Investing to clients, and trained 1,038 foundation staff, trustees, and others in 2024.
   • Susan Hammel educates and advises Minnesota’s philanthropic community through her work as Executive in Residence with the Minnesota Council on Foundations. Last year she designed and led the first annual Impact Investing Institute, and the next one is March 11, 2025.
   • Each quarter, Cogent Consulting hosts local information sessions open to the public at its partner nonprofit, Impact Hub Minneapolis-St.Paul, to educate those seeking investments about how the sector functions. The next one is Tuesday, April 8th, 2025.
   • Susan Hammel, Founder, spoke at numerous events and conferences this year to connect with peers and help grow the field.  These conferences, including the Total Impact Summit, Mission Investors Exchange, SOCAP, BMO/Groove Angel event, and Great Plains Institutional Investor Forum provide an opportunity for Cogent to reach new audiences and educate investors.
   • Cogent Team members write blog posts on newsworthy impact-investing topics that are posted on the Cogent website.
   • Cogent Consulting published 5 newsletters, sent to a mailing list of 400 people this year. Cogent also stays active on social media to be accessible to the field and various communities.

4. Cultivating social entrepreneurship and strengthening nonprofits:
   • The Cogent Team regularly engages in company Deal Team Meetings where we advocate for social entrepreneurs, especially those traditionally underrepresented in the field, to ensure they are not overlooked in investment conversations. As a financial consultant, Cogent has the power to strengthen social entrepreneurs by bringing them investments from clients. 
   • Cogent’s support of the non-profit sector included work with LISC Twin Cities, a Minnesota chapter of national LISC. We helped them assess the feasibility of raising impact capital for their new Housing Fund and to recapitalize their Community Asset Transition fund, which was launched after the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis in 2020. We designed a new training program to launch in 2025 that will increase the capacity and skills of social enterprises to seek impact investing capital.

5. Working with communities beyond Cogent clientele:
   • Cogent’s pro bono work often takes the form of employees attending events and networking with founders of social ventures on unpaid time. 
   • Susan Hammel, Cogent Founder, is President of the Career Advisory Board at Carleton College and a board member of the Trillium Family Foundation.
   • Brett Kasper, Investment Associate, advised a small business in Minneapolis through a fellowship at the University of Minnesota. He also serves on the Board of two mission-driven organizations.  
   • Terri Barreiro, Principal, volunteers her time at Impact Hub in Minneapolis advising social entrepreneurs on business development and capital formation.  She also presents impact investing basics to her students at the Carlson School of Management where she is an adjunct instructor and teaches online courses.
   • Randy Olson, Principal, serves as a member-at-large of a community based choral group, responsible for marketing and media outreach.  He also serves on the leadership committee of a fraternal organization that is continuing its second phase of a capital campaign. 
   • Somalisa Sahoo, Investment Analyst, volunteers regularly at Broad Street Love, a nonprofit organization providing stabilizing services to individuals experiencing deep poverty in Philadelphia, where she serves in the mail room.  She also gives her time to The Merchants Fund,  a Philadelphia charity for small business owners established in 1854, as an Advisor.

6. Cogent Consulting encountered the following hindrances to pursuing its specific benefit purpose:
   • The impact investing ecosystem is growing with more capital being invested. While this presents an exciting opportunity to shape the next generation of responsible investing, it also reveals challenges, including a general lack of knowledge around the subject in the financial and non-profit sectors as well as by individual investors.  
   • Based on our research, we believe that to build this kind of investing focused on the Twin Cities, there needs to be a more coordinated and facilitated way to grow local investing.  Much of our work in this has been pro bono, thus limiting the amount of time we can commit versus what is needed. We believe that creating an environment to connect social entrepreneurs with foundations and other capital suppliers in a more structured way will result in more impact investing capital deployed in our region. Fundraising for this type of work continues to be a challenge.
   • Higher interest rates over the past year have sometimes made impact investments less attractive than traditional investments, especially with the common misconception that all impact investments provide below-market returns. Concurrently, the increasing cost of capital has made impact investments more valuable to social entrepreneurs. 
   • After the Supreme Court’s ruling on Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College, certain venture capital groups selectively funding underrepresented entrepreneurs have received accusations that doing so is unconstitutional. No legal determination has been made, but the question itself poses a challenge to certain funds.