Rally Assets, an independent, full-service, Toronto based firm discusses their transition from an impact investment consulting firm to a registered impact portfolio manager and advisory firm using capital as a tool for social and environmental progress. In this episode Kelly Gauthier, Managing Director & Partner, explains how they are using capital for impact and doubling-down on more capital to create change.



“We have investors relationships that we have completed and executed on the initial commitment, and all of those investors are moving forward to double down with more capital, they are all supremely engaged in the impact work that we are doing together and what they are trying to achieve from an impact perspective. Which is obviously what we need to grow the sector and to have a greater impact in the areas in which we are trying to create change.”
Kelly Gauthier, Managing Director of Rally Assets







Transcript of Interview with Kelly Gauthier



Jenelle:Hello and welcome. Thank you for speaking with us today, Kelly.



Kelly Gauthier:Thanks so much for having me.



Jenelle:Today we have with us Kelly Gauthier, Managing Director of Rally Assets in Toronto and you can learn more about Rally Assets at rallyassets.com. So Kelly, the history of Rally is long and was previously another organization. I’d love for you to tell us a little bit about the origins of rally assets, how it came together and its mission and your role within it.



Kelly Gauthier:Great, yes, I’m happy to. As you mentioned Rally Assets used to be Purpose Capital and that joint organization has a history of over 10 years at this point. I have been lucky enough to be part of this organization for most of that timeline and has seen it through a number of really interesting changes that both relate to the organization but also to the broader impact investing context. So we did change our name about a year and a half ago to Rally Assets and that was part of a rebrand post and acquisition. Our new CEO, not so new at this point of Upkar Arora purchased the firm from the original three founders of Purpose Capital about two years ago. And so in thinking about how we we’re going to take purpose capital forward, one of the big gaps in this sector was around asset management specifically for impact investing.



Kelly Gauthier:And so as we sort of agreed and strategized around how to move into that space from a purely consulting organization we decided to do a rebrand and to signal to the market some of what we were headed for. And I’m pleased to say that at this point we have accomplished those goals. We have, you know, obviously executed our rebrand and our name change and we are now a registered portfolio manager and exempt market dealer which allows us to take assets in. So in terms of what we do and what the organization is all about, so Rally is an independent, full service impact only asset manager and advisor. And what that means in real plain language is that we have the privilege of helping investors to navigate this new and evolving space of impact investing. And that can mean from the beginning of their journey around understanding what impact investing is. How does this fit into the mix of what they’re already doing or their existing service providers. It can mean helping them to execute on that in terms of finding impact investments, doing the research and due diligence that goes along with that process and impact investments and then placing them in their portfolio and, and monitoring them over time.



Kelly Gauthier:Obviously tied into that and you know, and is key in this space is we do a lot of impact measurement and management of that impact data.