Ep: 534: Doug Cobb and The Finishing Fund on “Venture Capital Philanthropy”

Earlier this year I heard Doug Cobb speak about the organization he leads, The Finishing Fund, and I was intrigued. The Finishing Fund is like a venture capital fund for evangelical work around the world. Like a venture capital fund in the secular space, it doesn’t fully fund a work, but provides seed capital to get the work started. It works through partners “on the ground” in some of the most remote and hostile areas on the planet.

I liked what I heard for a variety of reasons that are important to us here at MinistryWatch. For one, The Finishing Fund exercised a high degree of accountability and transparency. It was nimble. It could fund a group in weeks or months, and if the projects went well, it could make follow-on investments. And, equally important, if things were not working out, it could pull the plug on that project just as quickly.

I wanted to have Doug on the program to discuss this innovative model for missions and philanthropy. He’s my guest today.

Doug Cobb is himself a major investor in the Fund and volunteers as its managing partner. An entrepreneur from Louisville, Kentucky, Doug has been working with Finishing the Task and the Issachar Initiative for a decade. We had this conversation via zoom.

The producer for today’s program is Jeff McIntosh. I’m Warren Smith.

And I’d like to remind you that we are in the midst of our year-end fundraising campaign. Here at MinistryWatch we get more than a third, nearly 40 percent, of our budget in the past two months of the year. For us, that means about $190,000. If you are able to contribute, click here.

Until next time, may God bless you.