This session is part of a national series, also running in Brisbane (July 23) and Melbourne (August 13).

Raising impact investment can be transformative for social enterprises and their investors, but the legal foundations of a deal matter. The right structure and early decisions can make the difference between a smooth transaction and one that becomes slow, costly or confusing.

Join the Impact Investing Hub and MinterEllison for a practical in-person conversation on the legal structures, documentation and common pitfalls that shape social enterprise and impact investment deals.

Featuring the launch of the Impact Investing Legal Toolkit.

Funded by Minderoo Foundation and produced in partnership with Minter Ellison, this new resource is designed to help social enterprises, foundations, investors, lawyers and advisors navigate the legal dimensions of impact investment transactions with greater clarity and confidence.

This practical event will explore the four big questions every impact investment deal needs to answer:

What legal structure will best support the enterprise’s impact, capital needs and growth plans?
What do founders and funders need to agree before the lawyers start drafting?
What documents are needed, and how do they fit together?
What are the common pitfalls that delay or derail impact investment deals?

Jessica Mendoza-Roth (Social Impact Hub) and Keith Rovers (Minter Ellison) will discuss where impact investment deals commonly slow down, how legal structure shapes capital options, which governance issues are often overlooked, and how better documentation can help founders and funders get aligned earlier.

By the end of the event, participants will have a clearer understanding of common legal challenges in impact investment transactions, how to use the Toolkit in practice, and what to clarify early when preparing for or supporting an impact investment deal.

Hosted by MinterEllison in partnership with the Impact Investing Hub.

Meet the speakers

Hear from leaders working at the intersection of social enterprise, impact investment and legal structuring.

Skye Heller

Senior Advisor, Impact Investing, Minderoo Foundation

Skye Heller has over fifteen years of experience in impact investing in Australia and the UK. In her current role, she is responsible for investing Minderoo Foundation's $250m Strategic Impact Fund and has consulted to leading impact investing players including NSW Treasury's Office of Social Impact Investment (OSII), Social Ventures Australia (SVA) and Social Enterprise Finance Australia (SEFA). Skye previously worked at Bridges Funds Management in London, a global leader in impact investing. Prior to impact investing, Skye worked in investment banking at Goldman Sachs JBWere and Macquarie Group, and has held senior roles in two finance start-ups. She has a Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Laws (Hons) from the University of Sydney, an MBA from INSEAD, and is an Adjunct Fellow at UNSW Business School's Centre for Social Impact.

Francesca Pinzone

Board Director for the Social Enterprise Council of NSW & ACT (SECNA)

Francesca Pinzone is a social impact leader, public health practitioner and social entrepreneur dedicated to improving equitable access to healthcare for children and families. With more than 20 years across the humanitarian, nonprofit and social enterprise sectors, she has built a career addressing systemic health inequalities and developing innovative solutions for underserved communities. Francesca is Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Umbo, a social enterprise that reduces health service inequalities by improving access to specialised therapies for children and families in regional and rural Australia. Her career spans international humanitarian work, including with Médecins Sans Frontières, UNICEF and CanTeen, and Australian social sector leadership, including lecturing at UNSW's Centre for Social Impact to help equip the next generation of leaders. She is also a Board Director for the Social Enterprise Council of NSW & ACT (SECNA).

Keith Rovers

Partner, MinterEllison

Keith Rovers is a Partner at MinterEllison and leads the firm's Social Impact practice and National Pro Bono program, collaborating with social enterprises, not-for-profits, and purpose-driven organisations on legal structures, impact investment, and sustainable finance. Keith chairs several social enterprises, including incubator and intermediary, White Box Enterprises, Australia's largest independent ticketing platform for good, Humanitix and Xceptional Academy, providing employment pathways for neurodiverse people. He also chairs Social Trader's Expert Advisory Group and is a board member of the Westpac Foundation and the Australian Alliance to End Homelessness and in 2023 received an Individual Outstanding Achievement Award at the Australian Impact Investment Awards, recognising his contribution to promoting social impact and driving innovation in the sector. He has extensive corporate and project finance expertise having advised on many major corporate and infrastructure transactions throughout his career. He holds a Bachelor of Economics and Law from Macquarie University.

Jessica Mendoza-Roth

Founder and CEO, Social Impact Hub

Jessica is the Founder and CEO of the Social Impact Hub, which collaborates with social purpose organisations to advise, educate and mobilise capital for impact. Jessica is also the Co-Founder of Wait Mate, a for-purpose organisation empowering parents to delay giving their child a smartphone. She is also an impact investment expert, consulting to private philanthropic foundations, an independent impact investment services firm, and she previously established the Sydney office of Impact Investment Group. Jessica began her career as a Solicitor at King & Wood Mallesons in Sydney. She holds a B.A. and LL.B. (with First Class Honours) from UNSW and a LL.M. from Harvard Law School, where she was the recipient of the R.G. Menzies Scholarship to Harvard, and she studied social entrepreneurship, philanthropy and impact investing.

As a purpose-driven intermediary and B Corp, Social Impact Hub offers a suite of capacity and capability building business services for organisations and individuals. Through expert advice, education, mobilising capital and ecosystem building, we help changemakers design, demonstrate and scale impact. If you would like to find out more about our work, please get in touch.

Contact the host of Impact Investing Made Easy: Discover the new tools, legal templates and risk frameworks that make the difference between success and failure - Sydney

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