Intermediary Pathway
“Catalytic capital is investment that accepts disproportionate risk and/or concessionary returns to generate positive impact and enable third-party investment that wouldn't otherwise occur.”
- “Catalytic Capital,” Tideline, 2019
Explore Prime’s glossary to learn more about catalytic capital and find additional resources.
Catalytic investing with charitable capital holds immense potential to address our global climate emergency at scale and with speed.
But structural challenges for philanthropists and investment managers alike are preventing its deployment. Nonprofit intermediation can meaningfully lower barriers on both sides, unblocking the deployment of charitable capital into critical, market-driven climate solutions.
Since 2015, Prime has closed $69M of catalytic capital through its nonprofit form, mobilized $320M into investment opportunities, and unlocked over $1.4B in external funding for Prime holdings.
Starting in 2025, we’re expanding to partner with impact-first investment managers to support catalytic vehicles built outside of Prime. Our nonprofit team anchors this program expansion in our deep philanthropy expertise, evidence-based impact discipline, and experimental risk tolerance, as well as our core values of tenacity, humility, and care.
Prime’s Pilot-Phase Solution:
Nonprofit Intermediation
At Prime, our catalytic investing programs are purpose-built to reduce barriers to climate impact.
Through the new “intermediary pathway” pilot, we screen catalytic investment opportunities to approve those that meet our Eligibility Criteria, and we provide philanthropists with an easy path to support eligible investment opportunities via Prime as a nonprofit intermediary.
Prime aggregates charitable capital from various sources (donor advised funds, private foundations, family offices, corporate giving programs, and more) and uses aggregated capital commitments to make investments into qualified catalytic investment vehicles.
Prime is on track toward our goal to have 10 approved funds on our intermediary platform by December 31, 2025, each with at least one donor committed to participating.
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Prime has developed a set of Eligibility Criteria to guide our investment decision-making and ensure that all of Prime’s investments are aligned with our charitable purpose and mission.
Every investment must satisfy four key criteria demonstrating that:
It will drive meaningful impact and leverage charitable capital to address critical capital gaps,
Exhibit strong processes for impact governance and risk, and
Be supported by a highly capable Manager.
In the pilot phase, we are also screening for each Opportunity's alignment with Prime’s operational needs, such that we can leverage outcomes from our early partnerships in the development of a full-scale program.
Prime uses these Eligibility Criteria, alongside our in-house research on critical capital gaps in climate-relevant systems, to construct and manage a pipeline of fund-level Opportunities.
Our platform will include Opportunities that arise from Prime’s in-house research team’s insights; we create systems maps to characterize and prioritize capital gaps across climate impact themes and geographies. Over time, our aspiration is to have this part of the platform serve as a guide for donors to the “highest and best uses of catalytic capital in climate.”
We are also able to accommodate inbound fund referrals from philanthropists, when those Opportunities clear our eligibility criteria.
How do we ensure all investments align with our charitable purpose and mission?
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Prime partners with Investment Managers in a collaborative diligence process that centers on the impact-first mission and governance of the Opportunity. Prime’s Fund Advisory Committee, a sub-committee of Prime’s nonprofit board, must then vote to approve that each Opportunity meets the minimum standard required for Qualified Recipients.
Upon approval, Prime will coordinate with the Manager and with interested philanthropists to aggregate catalytic capital commitments for the Opportunity. Prime offers “platform support” through training to the Manager upon their request around topics like catalytic capital fundraising, impact-prioritizing governance, and impact-prioritizing fund formation.
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Prime’s solution will lower barriers for philanthropists to support catalytic investment opportunities with two simple options. Download our Philanthropists’ Options to Participate table to learn more.
Please note that a one-time 3% core support fee is added to the philanthropist’s grant/commitment amount. This fee supports the nonprofit infrastructure required for the intermediary pathway, including assessment and approval of Opportunities, impact reporting for the length of the catalytic investment, and financial accounting and compliance. The core support fee is not recoverable. The full grant/commitment disbursement is made to Prime at the time of the pledge or on a pre-determined grant disbursement schedule.
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As Prime is also piloting client-facing climate impact advisory services, we can provide supplementary support to Managers through an additional fee for service.
Optional services include assessments of greenhouse gas impact potential, and impact tracking and reporting.
In some cases, philanthropists making catalytic capital commitments also make donations to Prime to support Prime providing impact reporting services.
Interested in Prime’s Intermediary Pathway pilot?
Email Claudia Leon, Assistant Director, Impact, at claudia.leon@primecoalition.org to learn more.
