Encourage Capital

A Solutions Strategy begins with identifying a critical social or environmental problem, followed by a systemic analysis of its root causes and capital gaps. The firm then designs cost-effective, scalable investment theses intended to attract commercial capital while enabling collaboration among investors, foundations, non-profits, and operating companies. Examples include financial inclusion strategies that backed small-finance banks in India and water strategies focused on the Colorado River Basin.

The firm develops proprietary water strategies through on-the-ground analysis and policy engagement. Its most visible water initiative originated with the 2015 report “Liquid Assets,” produced with The Walton Family Foundation, Culp & Kelly LLC, and Trout Unlimited. This work identified investable pathways for private capital in the Colorado River Basin, including water rights acquisitions and efficiency-linked instruments.

Wolfensohn Fund Management, L.P. was one of two predecessor firms that merged in December 2014 to create Encourage Capital. Adam Wolfensohn, a co-founder of the combined entity, had previously led Wolfensohn Capital Partners, a $250 million private equity fund that made growth-equity investments in emerging-market financial institutions and exchanges. That track record forms the foundation of Encourage Capital's emerging-markets investing.

Encourage Capital structures and manages its own investment vehicles directly. Its predecessor fund, Wolfensohn Capital Partners, made direct equity investments in companies such as DCB Bank, Repco Home Finance, and the National Stock Exchange of India. The firm also develops standalone asset strategies — such as District Stormwater in Washington, D.C. and a green carbon fund — and operates a liquid-assets water initiative.

The firm itself is not a foundation, but its activities intersect with philanthropic capital. Encourage Capital's founding investor and collaborator networks include the blue moon fund and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, and it partners with The Nature Conservancy on conservation-finance transactions. Philanthropic partners often provide grant funding for the systemic research that precedes a Solutions Strategy, while the firm deploys commercial capital into the resulting investment vehicles.