The Upstart Co-Lab Member Community has invested nearly $8 million in funds and startups, and Upstart plans to launch a $100 million impact investment portfolio for the Inclusive Creative Economy. The Upstart Co-Lab 2021 Impact Report details the impact framework, which tracks the impact of investments in the creative economy across five dimensions.

Access to capital for BIPOC and women entrepreneurs: Funds and companies that are led by diverse managers and founders, respectively; as well as investments in funds that are backing diverse founders.
Quality Jobs: Jobs that provide a living wage, basic benefits, career-building opportunities, wealth-building opportunities, and a fair and engaging workplace.
Vibrant communities: Activities that strengthen economic development, encourage civic engagement, build resiliency, and contribute to quality of life.
Sustainable creative lives: Ownership models, earnings opportunities, and pathways to wealth building that support a “creative middle class.”
An inclusive creative economy: Economic activity anchored in Openness & Experimentation, Diversity & Inclusion, and Tradition & Innovation that benefits artists, designers and all members of the community.

Read more here.

In a new report, “Studying Early Pandemic Data: Did Giving Sustain the Arts?,” SMU DataArts shares analysis on the impact of giving to the arts during the COVID-19 pandemic. Daniel Fonner, associate director for Research writes the pandemic “has turned the arts and culture sector upside down in many ways.”

“With wide-scale closures beginning in March 2020, organizations saw steep drops in earned revenue from ticket and admissions sales loss but found some relief from government funding programs and adjusted grant terms that allowed for some restriction removal or reallocation of funds to general operating needs.” This research asks how these revenue model shifts played out and if they were enough for organizations in the sector to meet their needs to at least break even financially?

Read the full report here.