Ambassadors Impact Network

Firm Headquarters: Dallas, Texas

Date Founded: September 2018

www.ambassadorsimpact.com

This Page was Updated March 2020

Investment Approach

INVESTMENT THESIS

Ambassadors Impact Network (AIN) is a later-stage angel investing group in the Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) area that connects faith-driven entrepreneurs with like-minded investors. Structured as a 501(c)(6) non-profit, AIN conducts and shares due diligence with its members, enabling them to make individual investments in faith-driven companies that advance the good news of Jesus via business practices or products. Founded in September 2018, AIN’s 39 members (as of September 2020) have combined experience of more than 470 years in private investing and over 680 private investments made. Since its founding in September of 2018, AIN members have invested a combined total of $6.5M into 18 companies.

INVESTMENT OVERVIEW

Ambassadors Impact Network invests in companies whose leaders are proactively seeking to promote the Gospel of Jesus Christ through corporate values, activities, and products/services. AIN recognizes that companies led by those with other or no faith convictions have generated, and do generate, significant financial returns with great social impact. And since many others recognize this, these companies typically do not face as many challenges raising capital. Conversely, Christian entrepreneurs often do face fundraising hurdles precisely because of their faith. AIN specifically fills an ideological funding gap that exists for Christian entrepreneurs who boldly live out their faith and, by doing so, often run into roadblocks raising capital from secular investors. Given AIN’s focus, its investors are uniquely positioned to help entrepreneurs navigate balancing profit, business excellence, God’s environmental mandate, and Jesus’ example of care. 

Investments to Date: 18

Focused Geographic Regions of Investment: 

• Is all of your activity in the US?

  We mostly focus on US-based companies and funds but are open to international opportunities where we have a trusted advisor. At present we have investments in entities based in Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas, Washington, and Illinois.

• What countries outside of the US are you active in?

  While we are not focused outside the US, we have investments in companies, or funds that have companies, in: East Africa (Kenya, Uganda), Asia (India, Thailand, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Malaysia, Albania, Georgia, Azerbaijan), Europe (Albania), and Central & South America (Mexico, Peru, Brazil).

Focused Industries of Investment:

We are industry and sector agnostic and open to considering businesses in any sector that are winsomely demonstrating their faith in Jesus Christ through their values, operations, activities, and products/services.

Investment Example:

Calyan Wax Co. is a manufacturer, wholesaler, and retailer of modern, natural candle products that donates 5% of revenue to anti-human trafficking nonprofit partners. Their mission is to create quality candles that give people a simple way to become social advocates against human trafficking.

Its leadership members are strong, gospel-oriented Christians deeply committed to being witnesses for Christ in the marketplace through excellent business. “We want to be a tangible example of the hands of Jesus – showcasing his love and grace to everyone who interacts with the Calyan brand,” Jacob Johnson, CEO.

Their commitment is evident in their personal life and the company’s commitment to social justice. Biblical values are lived out in the way Calyan treats employees, customers, and vendors. Their mission is prominently displayed on their website, and they plan to formalize gospel-focused values in internal and external documents soon. They donate 5% of revenue to human trafficking nonprofit Traffick911, include a Bible verse on packaging, take Sundays off, encourage work/life balance, and plan to employ/partner with victims of human trafficking.

The company broke even in 2018, raised capital in 2019 to expand infrastructure capacity for future growth, doubled revenue from 2018 to 2019, moved into a new facility in 2020 to scale production, and grew online sales during COVID-19 as brick-and-mortar retail partners closed. Four AIN members invested a total of $255K. Two AIN members currently sit on the board.

Previous or Active Portfolio Companies:

Ambassadors Impact Network has made 18 investments since September 2018 for a total of $6.5M. Investments include nine operating companies (one of them in three separate rounds, totaling 11, six funds, and one film project). For security and confidentiality reasons, we do not publish the names of our investees. If you would like to learn more, please reach out and we would be happy to discuss further. 

Capital Raise Strategy

Total Assets Under Management: No assets under management since we are an investor network. Total amount invested to date is $6.5M.

Our number of memberts: 39

Members’ total years of investing experience: 490

Number of individual investments made outside of AIN: 680

Average Investment: $250–500K aggregated among members.   

Minimum Amount: Network members are asked to invest at least $50K per year in fitting opportunities, which may be spread across multiple companies. Companies must be raising $200K or more.

% of Capital from Top 3 Investors: More than 51%

Financial Reporting Frequency to Investors: Quarterly Reports

Setup to accept charitable capital through the National Christian Foundation or other listing platforms? Investors may invest in AIN-backed companies via the Impact Foundation, as all of our investments would meet their mission-related investment (MRI) criteria.

Leadership Team

• Cumulative Leadership Experience in Accredited Investing: 50+ years

Will Thomas | Managing Director and Founder

Will serves as Managing Director and Founder of Ambassadors Impact Network. Additionally, Will is on the board of two publicly-traded companies. He has been investing in organizations that demonstrate social and spiritual impact since 2013. Previously, Will served as Interim CEO and as Chairman of the board of Marketplace Chaplains and as Vice President at Capital Southwest Corporation where he made investments in growth-stage ventures and served on the board of eleven companies.  Prior to his private equity experience, Will served as an evaluator pilot and in numerous leadership positions in the United States Air Force, achieving the rank of Major. He graduated from the United States Air Force Academy and has an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. Will and his wife are blessed by their three exciting children and attend Providence Presbyterian Church.

Eliot Kerlin | Director and Founder

Eliot serves as Director and Founder of Ambassadors Impact Network. He is a Senior Partner & Chief Structuring Officer at Insight Equity, where he has been since 2005. Eliot directs investment strategy and serves as board member for a number of portfolio companies where he leads acquisitions, recapitalizations, financings, and operational improvement initiatives at portfolio companies. Previously, Mr. Kerlin served as Turnaround Manager for Bay State Paper Company, Investment Banker in the Global Communications Group at Merrill Lynch in New York, and Senior Associate at Jupiter Partners. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Dallas/Fort Worth Chapter of the Association for Corporate Growth, the DFW Private Equity Forum, Casa Del Lago, and was formerly a Director of BraveLove and the Prison Entrepreneurship Program. Eliot holds an M.B.A. with distinction from Harvard Business School and a B.B.A. in Finance with honors from Texas A&M University. Eliot and his wife have four children and attend Park Cities Presbyterian Church.

J.J. Barto | Director and Founder

J.J. serves as Director and Founder of Ambassadors Impact Network. He is a private equity independent sponsor and consultant who assists with management for private family office clients. He has been making investments in privately held companies for 20 years. He has served as CEO of Cabe Long Properties since 2002, where he oversees all operational and investment activities related to the real estate firm. Active in the Dallas philanthropic community, he has served in various capacities as a member of the Conference of Southwest Foundations and as a board member for private foundations. Additional service includes former chairman of the board of the Covenant School and founding the Heritage School of Texas, and various other advisory board roles. Formerly an adjunct professor at SMU’s Cox School of Business, J.J. holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Oklahoma in Letters, a Classics-focused Liberal Arts degree, a Masters in Business Administration from Southern Methodist University, and has completed post graduate work at Texas A&M. J.J. and his wife are the proud parents of three boys and members of Watermark Community Church.

Endel Liias | Senior Associate

Endel is a senior associate at Ambassadors Impact Network, where he oversees network operations and investment due diligence. He is also the founder and managing principal of Nexus Impact Advisors, a mission-driven research and advisory firm specializing in faith-driven impact investing. Nexus works with a range of clients — from individual investors and family offices to foundations and non-profits — to increase the flow of capital from purpose-driven investors to high-impact organizations that create wealth, reduce poverty, and effect meaningful change. Having traveled to more than 50 countries, Endel has broad experience in the areas of impact investing, international development, and social entrepreneurship. He attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he received both his undergraduate and graduate degrees, and is fluent in Spanish. Endel and his wife, Kate, live in Arlington, Virginia and attend Restoration Anglican Church, where Endel serves as the director of worship.

Spiritual Integration and Impact:

Faith Driven Investing can span a wide range from high yield to concessionary returns that have a higher level of spiritual integration. Having clear expectations of this philosophy is key for the movement. Each investment is unique and you might want to select multiples but if you had to choose one quadrant that best fits your groups spiritual integration and financial performance targets … What would it be?

We are very intentional about spiritual impact and prioritize this in all our investments. We also seek solid risk-adjusted, market-rate returns as a baseline, although in rare instances network members will invest in slightly below-market-rate or concessionary-return investments that have outsized spiritual impact.  

Describe the Spiritual Integration Activities of the Fund:

• AIN assess the spiritual impact of each company across four categories:

  • People: Are the company leadership, board, and investors devout followers of Jesus Christ? How is this lived out?

  • Values: Does the company formally incorporate Gospel values into its corporate documents, culture, and practices?

  • Activities: Does the company have specific activities that demonstrate, promote or allow exploration the Gospel?

  • Product/service: Does the product and/or service demonstrate or proclaim the Gospel?

• These categories are an effort to systematically assess the spiritual impact of businesses across sectors and geographies. However, realizing that each company and entrepreneur is highly unique and that assessing spiritual impact is often more art than science, we use this approach as a foundational framework for conversations and are open to learning from applicant companies. AIN’s ongoing encouragement for entrepreneurs is important. Related activities vary widely depending on the company stage, the CEO, and the spiritual gifting and passions of the leadership team. We both engage with entrepreneurs directly and rely on other faith-driven communities and programs to equip and encourage entrepreneurs we support financially with investment.

Is Impact and Spiritual Integration Tracked?

• AIN is tracking and concurrently developing impact and spiritual integration metrics, but nothing worth publishing yet.

Are you partnered with any other organizations?

• While there are no formal partnerships, AIN members participate in and support Praxis, Lion’s Den, Birmingham BAM LLC, Sinapis, Talanton, FDI/FDE and other faith-driven investor efforts.

A lot of Investing Conversations look at Social Impact related to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Is there one of these that most resonates with your organization?

• Ambassadors Impact Network does not focus on any specific social impact objectives or SDGs, but are open to all of them if they are achieved with high levels of missional intentionality and Gospel-forwardness. We assess target companies social impact with reference to the 17 SDGs.

If you’re wildly successful how will the world be different?

WHY The FAITH DRIVEN INVESTOR?

• Why are you compelled to be certified and a part of the Faith Driven Investor Group?

  AIN is eager to see the faith-driven ecosystem grow and believe that joining like-minded investors will help us collectively realize our goals to bless all peoples and point them to Jesus Christ. Our hope is to learn from others while also serving as a resource to them, wherever possible.

• Does the leadership align with the Unifying Principles on Faith Driven Investor and agree to the Code of Conduct? Yes

• Who nominated you to be listed on the FDI site? Justin Forman, Faith Driven Investor

AFFILIATIONS- Are you a part of any third party groups, affiliations that you would like to list here?

• AIN is a member of the Angel Capital Association

Learn More

• Key Contact Name: Will Thomas

• Email: www.ambassadorsimpact.com/contact

• Mailing Address: 1920 McKinney Ave, Floor 7, Dallas, TX 75201