From the Author
Essays, commentary, and dispatches on impact investing, fair finance, and building an economy that works for everyone.
Antony sat down for a wide-ranging interview with Beri Meric for the Ivy community that covered his personal journey and motivation, what it means to invest in America, and how everyone can participate in this movement.
Watch the Learning Module →In a new op-ed for The Chronicle of Philanthropy, Antony argues that one of philanthropy's biggest untapped opportunities has been hiding in plain sight for more than two centuries: investing in solutions to challenges such as affordable housing, energy, and education. He traces the idea to Benjamin Franklin, whose will created loan funds so young tradespeople could borrow to start businesses. Antony points to foundations across America carrying that idea forward today, including Blandin, Leon Levine, Woodcock, and Lumina. With more than $8 trillion in combined investment assets, and often greater flexibility to invest in pursuit of mission, foundations and nonprofits can light the path for Investing in America.
Read Full Article at The Chronicle of Philanthropy →Antony co-wrote a case with Kelly Ifill on Apis & Heritage Capital Partners, the employee ownership fund featured in the book's chapter, "Everyone Should Be Able to Earn Their American Dream." The case follows founders Todd Leverette and Phil Reeves as they weigh whether to raise an ambitious $250 million second fund, building on the $58 million debut fund that financed employee-led buyouts converting lower-middle-market companies to worker ownership. It's a useful window into the practical challenges of scaling an impact-first investment strategy, whether you're teaching it in a classroom or just interested in employee ownership and fundraising for social impact. Available now for teaching through Harvard Business School Publishing.
Access the Case at Harvard Business School Publishing →In a new piece for The Observer, Antony and Ford Foundation's Roy Swan make the case that treating financial return as an investor's only obligation is the truly radical idea, one that only became culturally dominant in the US in the late 20th century. They argue that impact investors are reconnecting to older, more durable principles about what investment capital is for. Antony and Roy have collaborated for more than a decade. Their book babies are agemates: Investing in America and Roy's Positive Sum both officially launched July 21.
Read Full Article at Observer →As SpaceX completes a $1.77 trillion IPO and AI infrastructure spending races toward $8 trillion, Antony's latest Investing in America column for ImpactAlpha extends the book's chapter "Technology Should Be Accessible and Safe" to ask how impact investors can still shape technology when conventional capital so vastly outscales them. He argues the answer lies in expanding who has access to technology and who has influence over it, pointing to Connect Humanity's rural broadband work, Kapor Capital's approach to venture funding, and Omidyar Network's stake in Anthropic as leverage points that still matter.
Read Full Article at ImpactAlpha →Antony joined host Georgia Levenson Keohane on Columbia Business School's Capital for Good podcast for a wide-ranging conversation about the book. They discuss his childhood in apartheid-era South Africa, his own experience of how access to fair finance such as a college loan and a 30-year mortgage turned opportunity into progress for his family in America, and how Benjamin Franklin's 1789 revolving loan funds anchor the book's 70 case studies across 42 states. Antony also makes the case for why expanding opportunity is work for all of us, not just policymakers and investors.
Listen to the Podcast →As America approaches its 250th birthday, Antony reflects in his latest Investing in America column for ImpactAlpha on why he feels more patriotic than ever, despite the country's uneven record on delivering opportunity. He traces that patriotism to the immigrants, entrepreneurs, and community lenders profiled in the book who are carrying forward an American tradition of expanding opportunity through fair financing, one that stretches back to Benjamin Franklin's own revolving loan funds for young tradespeople. The column closes by making the case that investing in America isn't a spectator sport, and offers readers concrete ways to put their own money to work: moving deposits to a community bank or credit union, or asking a financial advisor how their investments serve that goal.
Read Full Article at ImpactAlpha →Antony makes the case for declaring June 23 National Investing in America Day to commemorate the day in 1789 Benjamin Franklin amended his will to create loan funds for workers to access financing to start their own businesses. Franklin described a similar loan he received as a young man as "the foundation of my fortune and all the utility in life that may be ascribed to me." His simple observation that people often require fair financing to turn opportunity and hard work into progress remains the cornerstone of the work to Invest in America. And check out Michael Meyer's Benjamin Franklin's Last Bet for more on the loan funds and their impact.
Read on LinkedIn →Blue Haven Initiative featured an interview with Antony on Investing in America. The interview covers the motivation for writing the book, links to inspiring examples of investing in America, opportunities for policymakers, and a brief description of how everyone can participate in this work. Blue Haven Initiative have been walking the Investing in America walk for many years; it's an honor to share these ideas with their community.
Read the Interview →When Fervo Energy's $1.89 billion IPO crossed $10 billion in valuation in May — the biggest clean energy public offering in Wall Street history — it looked like an overnight success. It wasn't. Behind the IPO was a decade-long sequence of investors willing to fund geothermal energy before it was proven, profitable, or popular: ARPA-E grants, philanthropic equity from Elemental Impact, patient capital from Breakthrough Energy Ventures, and a pivotal bridge investment from Capricorn Investment Group. In his latest Investing in America column for ImpactAlpha, Antony synthesizes the examples from the book chapter on financing abundant and affordable energy and asks what it will take to produce the next Fervo — and the one after that.
Read Full Article at ImpactAlpha →Financing college education is increasingly a fulcrum on which the American Dream sits. Funding U extends fair financing to college students who mainstream lenders ignore — students with a track record of academic success but without parents to cosign their loans. In their first impact report, Funding U describes the lessons they've learned building a new underwriting methodology that assesses potential rather than connections and providing more than 9,300 students with the loans they need to keep their academic path on track.
Read the Impact Report →The long-term, fixed rate mortgage with 20 percent down payment — first created by a partnership between banks and the Roosevelt Administration in the 1930s — has helped half of Americans become homeowners and underpins a $50 trillion residential financing market. But what about the tens of millions of families for whom that financing does not work? Homium is an exciting innovator, profiled in the book, who are investing in homes alongside first-time home buyers to make affordable homeownership accessible for more people. They're also great communicators. These three-minute videos profile customers in Detroit who are participants of a program they are running with support from Detroit Piston Tobias Harris and in partnership with local government and foundations. They are a powerful reminder of the people who benefit when we find ways to Invest in America.
Watch the Videos →Everyone knows government spends money. Fewer people remember that government also invests it. And has a track record of using investment and capital market shaping to drive private capital into places it would never go alone. In his latest Investing in America column for ImpactAlpha, Antony draws on examples from the 30-year mortgage to the Small Business Investment Company program to show how public investment tools can expand opportunity without running up the federal credit card. The lessons are bipartisan and, he argues, overdue for revival.
Read Full Article at ImpactAlpha →Antony co-wrote a case with Columbia Business School on Climate United, a $7 billion investment fund set up with federal funding to finance access to clean energy investment in underserved US communities. The case explores a core strategic challenge: how to build a self-sustaining investment portfolio while removing barriers to mainstream investor participation. Its broad insights into effective capital market shaping strategy are applicable beyond clean energy, for other issues the book discusses, such as affordable housing and employee ownership. Available now for teaching through Harvard Business School Publishing.
Access the Case at Harvard Business School Publishing →Was KKR paying ~$150 million in worker bonuses last week from their sale of a Canadian industrial cooling company good for workers? Antony argues that we should spend less time debating what KKR did and instead focus on supporting the investors creating better options for workers to compete with private equity themselves. This Investing in America column for ImpactAlpha draws on the book's chapter, "Everyone Should Be Able to Earn Their American Dream."
Read Full Article at ImpactAlpha →Antony introduces Investing in America in a LinkedIn post. Check it out and join the conversation.
Read on LinkedIn →You may know him as a Founding Father. You may not know that Franklin set up revolving loan funds in his will to help young tradespeople become business owners. In his first Investing in America column for ImpactAlpha, Antony draws a line from Franklin's 18th-century bet on working people to the innovators following this legacy across America today.
Read Full Article at ImpactAlpha →Order Investing in America — Antony Bugg-Levine · Wiley · July 2026.