When we closed the Open Road Impact Fund in April 2025 and returned capital to our investors, we did so with a mix of pride and momentum I rarely expected to feel at a fund wind-down. Ninety-four loans. $54 million disbursed. $549 million of committed funding kept on track. By any measure, our first fund was a resound-ing success—and yet the lessons it taught us pointed unmistakably toward something bolder.

So in 2025, we took the leap. Open Road Impact became a nonprofit. This was not a pivot born of necessity. It was a deliberate choice, rooted in something we had been wrestling with for years: the inevitable tension between impact and risk. If we are serious about being additional—about showing up for the borrowers that no one else will touch—we cannot confine ourselves to only the lowest-risk deals. We must serve a broad range of impact-first organizations, even when the path forward is uncertain. A philanthropic hybrid model gives us the freedom to do exactly that.

The timing, as it turned out, could not have been more important. Early in the year, the Trump administration’s funding freeze put hundreds of USAID-backed projects at immediate risk. Organizations that had done the work, deployed the resources, and delivered results were suddenly left without the funds they had been promised. Through a partnership with USAID’s former Development Innovation Ventures team, Open Road deployed 0% interest bridge loans—funded by philanthropy outside our main fund—to keep critical operations running while grantees waited for federal funds to be released. Eighty-five percent of those loans hav already been repaid. The bridge held.

At the same time, we launched our second offering, raising $24.1M in June 2025. This is more than a capital milestone. It is a mandate. With an evergreen structure designed to keep us continuously present in the market, we are no longer constrained by the rhythms of a fund lifecycle. We can show up when it matters—which, as the last five years have taught us, is always sooner than anyone expects. Looking ahead, we are investing in how we work. Artificial intelligence is changing what’s possible in impact investing, and we intend to be at the front of that change. From sourcing to underwriting to portfolio monitoring, we see AI as a force multiplier for a lean team with an ambitious mandate—allowing us to move faster, assess risk more precisely, and ultimately serve more mission-driven organizations than we could before. The core of our work will always be human: the relationships, the judgment calls, the trust that borrowers place in us during their most uncertain moments. But the tools we bring to that work should be as sharp as possible.

The only certainty is uncertainty. We learned that in 2020, and the years since have confirmed it again and again. What has also been confirmed is this: when impact-first organizations have a trusted partner to turn to, they don’t just survive the headwinds—they grow through them. That is what Open Road is here for. And we are just getting started.

You can read our 2025 Annual Report here.

With gratitude,
Caroline Bressan,
CEO, Open Road Impact

Go Back