Maine Community Foundation is currently working to expand its impact investing. Over the past three years, the foundation joined with colleagues in New Hampshire and Vermont to explore how to effectively use impact investing as a strategy to advance strategic priorities and engage donors. The foundation was drawn to expand its use of impact investing due to a successful $1 million loan made in 2008 to Maine Farmland Trust, capitalized by donor advised and discretionary funds, to help permanently protect farmland. Over the past six years, this loan contributed to Maine Farmland’s Trust ability to secure almost 9,000 acres of farmland under local ownership and has leveraged over $4 million in additional capital for farmland preservation projects. In May 2013, the board endorsed an expansion of impact investing, which allows donors to pool charitable resources with the community foundation’s discretionary funds. It has launched two new investment portfolios— Farm, Fisheries and Food to support local entrepreneurs and Downtown and Business Development to foster job creation and downtown revitalization. As of September 2014, the foundation has mobilized over $2.3 million for impact investing in these two portfolios.