In this Episode of Capital for Good we speak with Antony Bugg-Levine, a global leader in economic development, policy, and responsible business and investment. Twenty years ago, Bugg-Levine convened the meeting that coined the phrase "impact investing;" he would go on to co-found the Global Impact Investing Network, write a definitive book on the subject, lead the Nonprofit Finance Fund, and shape the ways capital flows to important economic, social and environmental challenges — giving more people access to fair finance, and opportunity. His new book, Investing in America, is as much a window into the inspiring work of "practical problem solvers" as it is a personal chronicle: in Bugg-Levine's words "one grateful immigrant's 250th birthday gift to the country that has given my family and me so much."

In this wide ranging conversation, we discuss the formative experiences that animate Bugg-Levine's life-long commitment to expanding opportunity: his childhood in South Africa during apartheid and his later work in the country when the new Constitution afforded political rights that were challenging to achieve in the face of entrenched economic inequality; his experience in the US as an immigrant for whom the "American Dream" was both inspiration and reality — often because of access to "fair finance" like college loans and a 30-year mortgage; the recognition that these kinds of opportunities are increasingly elusive for many Americans.

Bugg-Levine, who is also an adjunct professor at Columbia Business School, explains how "Investing in America" has a long and foundational history, citing the example of Ben Franklin, who rewrote his will in 1789 to create revolving loan funds for workers in Boston and Philadelphia to start their own businesses. The youngest son in a family of seventeen siblings, Franklin worked for his brother in a print shop, and only through a loan arranged by a friend was able to start his own small business that would change the trajectory of his life and make possible his contributions to community and country. Franklin's "core insight," Bugg-Levine notes, is that "hard work, grit, and determination are necessary, but not sufficient;" they often need to be linked to access to fair finance to translate opportunity into progress. Investing in America shows Franklin's legacy is alive and relevant, covering 70 case studies across 42 states and a broad range of topics that most Americans agree are national priorities: among them worker well-being and good jobs; housing and homeownership; clean, affordable, and resilient energy; education; health care; technology; natural resource protection; and direct access to capital. We discuss several.

While clear eyed about many of the challenges Americans face, Bugg-Levine is also optimistic that solutions to these challenges often enjoy bipartisan support. He also believes that all of us have a role to play and cites tangible ways — from banking locally to voting for candidates who advance these solutions — everyone can participate. "Investing in America is not a spectator sport," Bugg-Levine says. "We as a people can be part of the project of making the ideas of the American Dream a reality for everyone."

Mentioned in this episode:

Investing in America, (Antony Bugg-Levine, 2026)

In this episode of Capital for Good, we speak with two extraordinary media leaders — Christy Tanner '99, the president and CEO of New York Public Radio, an iconic and 100-year-old center for local and global media, and Carroll Bogert, the CEO of The City Reporter, the independent newsroom founded in 2019 to cover breaking news, investigative, and service journalism in New York City. In this wide-ranging conversation, we hear from these industry veterans about their early callings as reporters, their respective careers as pioneers — one using journalism to hold power to account, one forging new business models in the face of technological transformation — and their thoughts about the challenges, and opportunities, of the current moment in New York and around the world.

We start with Tanner and Bogert's gravitational pulls to journalism and the formative experiences as reporters that would shape their careers in media. Tanner explains how as a young girl, inspired by the likes of Nancy Drew and Nellie Bly, the ability to "ask questions, investigate things, find out what's going on," and the creative process of writing "captured my imagination." Her first jobs at the AP and in local newsrooms in South Carolina and Tennessee taught her how investigative reporting could have tangible impact, prompting changes in government policies. For Bogert, a member of the generation of idealists who grew up on "Woodward and Bernstein and All the President's Men," journalism was "something noble… and world changing:" a way to "uncover abuse at the top and change history." As a foreign correspondent for Newsweek, she would chronicle the Tiananmen Square crackdown and the fall of the Soviet Union.

As the industry evolved, so too did their respective paths. Bogert would go on to leadership roles at Human Rights Watch and as the founding president of The Marshall Project, a nonprofit news organization covering criminal justice in the United States. "The though line," she says, is that "challenging the abuse of power is the essential role of journalism. Power requires constant vigilance because it will trend towards abuse if it's not watched." Tanner, whose experiences included hosting a kind of proto-podcast in the mid-1990s, saw early on that "the internet was going to change media forever." Back in New York, she had a "front row seat to the invention of streaming as we know it" — newspapers, magazines, television, audio — and would become a leader in the digital transformation of legacy media companies like The Washington Post, Reed Elsevier, TV Guide, and CBS.

While both new in their current seats, Tanner and Bogert bring their expertise as seasoned industry leaders — and New Yorkers – to the roles. Tanner notes that while NYPR has grown into a multiplatform organization with radio (WNYC, WQXR), digital news, and podcasts with significant national and global reach, its local resonance with New Yorkers is remarkably strong. Bogert explains that at "this historical moment," when investigative newsrooms are disappearing, "local media is where it's at." She believes that the independence of nonprofit media organizations gives them "a particularly special role" to hold political leaders accountable and to rebuild trust in media.

While acknowledging any number of challenges — in the industry, in a fraught political environment — Tanner and Bogert are optimistic: about the opportunities for organizations like theirs to collaborate, to "share best practices," to develop more sustainable business models, and to cultivate greater understanding of the need of philanthropy to support media as a critical pillar of our civic infrastructure.

Mentioned in this episode:

• New York Public Radio
• The City Reporter