Program Related Investments

Opportunity Fund

http://www.opportunityfund.org

Founded in 1993, Opportunity Fund (formerly Lenders for Community Development) has disbursed over $10 million to more than 3,800 savers through its Individual Development Account (IDA) program, the nation's largest. The group has also made over 600 loans worth over $8 million to support local microenterprise and has directed over $115 million in community investment into affordable housing and community facilities. Read more about Opportunity Fund...

Low Income Investment Fund

http://www.liifund.org

Since the group's founding in the mid-1980s, LIIF has provided capital and technical assistance totaling $1.5 billion, which in turn leveraged an additional $6 billion, broadening economic opportunity for 1.7 million people. LIIF's investments helped to create 174,000 units of low income and special needs housing, 243,000 childcare spaces, and 72,000 educational facilities. Read more about Low Income Investment Fund...

George Gund Foundation, Program Related Investments

http://www.gundfoundation.org/what-we-fund/program-related-investments

The George Gund Foundation, a private foundation dedicated to investment in Cleveland, is a leader among regional foundations in using program-related investments to leverage foundation assets in support of community wealth-building projects. The Foundation's first PRI was made in 1984 when $333,000 was loaned to the Famicos Foundation for construction of the Lexington Village Project, a 183 unit housing development in the Hough neighborhood of Cleveland. Since then, nearly 26 separate PRI transactions have been completed. Read more about George Gund Foundation, Program Related Investments...

ImpactAssets

http://www.impactassets.org

Incubated by the Calvert Foundation and launched independently in 2009, ImpactAssets is a nonprofit financial services company striving to tackle global issues with equal regard for problem solving and profit. With the goal of achieving maximum environmental, social and financial impact, ImpactAssets also works to speed the adoption of impact investing by investors and philanthropists. To date, the nonprofit administers $60 million in assets, with a long-term goal of $1 billion in assets. Read more about ImpactAssets...

Hope-Enterprise Corporation

http://www.hope-ec.org

Enterprise Corporation of the Delta provides financial services in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and the Greater Memphis area of Tennessee. Since 1994, ECD and its affiliate, Hope Community Credit Union, have generated over $1 billion in financing for small business, homebuyer and community development, and assisted more than 40,000 individuals in low-income communities throughout the Mid South. Read more about Hope-Enterprise Corporation...

Community Economic Development Assistance Corp.

http://www.cedac.org

The Community Economic Development Assistance Corporation (CEDAC) is a quasi-public intermediary that finances community development projects in low-income areas of metropolitan Boston. A 10-year, $1.5 million program-related investment from the Boston Foundation made in 2004 is expected to result in an additional 1125 units of housing for Greater Boston low-income individuals. Read more about Community Economic Development Assistance Corp....

Common Ground Community

http://www.commonground.org

Working to develop supportive housing and implement other research-based practices that end homelessness, Common Ground has developed more than 3,200 units of permanent and transitional housing in New York City, upstate New York, and Connecticut. A recipient of a $2,000,000 PRI to support preservation of affordable rental housing in 2007 from The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Common Ground is working to create an additional 4,000 units of housing for the homeless by 2015. Read more about Common Ground Community...

Ohio Capital Finance Corporation

http://www.occh.org

The Ohio Capital Finance Corporation (OCFC), created in 2002, is a lending arm of Capital Corporation for Housing (OCCH) based in Columbus. OCCH is a non-profit corporation that creates affordable housing opportunities raising $2 billion and creating more than 25,000 housing units since its inception in 1989. OCFC has received a $4 million program-related Investment from the MacArthur Foundation in 2008 for acquisition and bridge financing to preserve affordable rental housing in Ohio. Read more about Ohio Capital Finance Corporation...

National Affordable Housing Trust

http://www.naht.org

The National Affordable Housing Trust (NAHT) is a Columbus-based non-profit organization that creates and preserves affordable housing nationally. NAHT was founded in 1986, and is a financial intermediary and consulting firm. NAHT has assisted in the development of over 14,947 housing units in 32 states with a total cost of $1.5 billion financed. NAHT was financially supported in its founding by the Ford Foundation and received a program-related investment of $2 million from the MacArthur Foundation in 2009. Read more about National Affordable Housing Trust...

Program Related Investments

Glass Pockets

The Foundation Center

Glass Pockets is an online resource from The Foundation Center that promotes transparency in philanthropic foundations. The site gives the public access to the published finnancial records of major foundations, providing profiles of major organizations and links to their transparency profiles.

Program-Related Investment Rules for Private Foundations

This free course, which covers the basic legal rules for program-related investments, takes about forty-five minutes to complete. The course is part of Learn Foundation Law, a free resource devloped by legal staff at the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation that provides training on legal issues in grantmaking for private foundations.

BWB Solutions

BWB Solutions is a consulting firm that helps foundations and corporations make social investments and program-related investments in the form of loans, equity investments and recoverable grants to nonprofits or businesses committed to social change. The website contains a number of publications on these themes.

Future of Philanthropy

This website contains a number of reports on trends in the field, including different means of leveraging more effectively, such as through the use of social investment tools like PRIs.

National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy

Since 1976, NCRP has advocated for the philanthropic community to work toward social and economic justice for disadvantaged and disenfranchised populations and communities. The website contains a number of publications on these issues.

Neighborhood Funders Group

The Neighborhood Funders Group is a national network of foundations and philanthropic groups that support community-based efforts that improve economic and social conditions in low-income communities. NFG maintains a number of working groups, including the PRI Makers Network.

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

This chapter on program-related investments, from a much longer anthology, provides a thoughtful overview of the nature of PRIs and how the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in particular has used them to finance the construction of community health facilities.

Social Funds.com

SocialFunds.com features over 10,000 pages of information on SRI mutual funds, community investments, corporate research, shareowner actions, and daily social investment news.

Social Funds.com

SocialFunds.com features over 10,000 pages of information on SRI mutual funds, community investments, corporate research, shareowner actions, and daily social investment news.

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

Neighborhood Funders Group

National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy

Future of Philanthropy

This website contains a number of reports on trends in the field, including different means of leveraging more effectively, such as through the use of social investment tools like PRIs.

BWB Solutions

Program Related Investments

Foundations use many tools to spur community wealth building. Grant-based initiatives are one prominent strategy. Here, however, we focus on program-related investments. Program-related investments, also known as PRIs, leverage limited foundation dollars—most often by providing long-term, low-interest loans—to promote community wealth building and other mission-related foundation goals. Read more about Program Related Investments...

Program Related Investments

Community Foundations Pursue Impact Investments to Build Local Economies

Catherine Covington

The Chronicle of Philanthropy

In this issue of The Chronicle of Philanthropy, our Senior Fellow Marjorie Kelly was featured for her work on equitable, sustainable community development and innovations in the community wealth building field.

Pushing the Envelope: Expanding the Limits of Mission Investing

Peter Berliner and David Wood

Responsive Philanthropy

Q&A Roundtable on Impact Investing

Johanna Mair and Katherine Milligan

Stanford Social Innovation Review

Use It or Lose It: Frittering Away Civil Society’s Strategic Advantage

Ruth McCambridge

Nonprofit Quarterly

Collective Impact

John Kania and Mark Kramer

Stanford Social Innovation Review, pages 36-41

Q&A Roundtable on Shared Value

John Kania and Mark Kramer

Stanford Social Innovation Review

Key Facts on Mission Investing

Steven Lawrence and Reina Mukai

Fusing Arts, Culture and Social Change: High Impact Strategies for Philanthropy

Holly Sidford

Impact Investing: Harnessing Capital Markets to Drive Development at Scale

Antony Bugg-Levine

Impact Investing: Harnessing Capital Markets to Solve Problems at Scale

Antony Bugg-Levine and John Goldstein

Community Development Investment Review

Achieving Philanthropic Intent with Less

Jonathan D. Jaffrey

Investments & Wealth Monitor, pages 12-13

Catalytic Philanthropy

Mark R. Kramer

Stanford Social Innovation Review, pages 30-35

Building Institutions for Social Change: The Case for “Buy-and-Hold Philanthropy

Jonathan F. Fanton

PRI Makers Network Conference

Closing Plenary

Douglas F. Kridler

PRI Makers Network Conference

The Equity Capital Gap

Clara Miller

Stanford Social Innovation Review, pages 41-45

Small Foundations: How to Invest in Microfinance

Ana Maria Moreno, et al.

Emerging Topics Paper Series Working Paper #10

Expanding Philanthropy's Reach: Mission-Related Investing at the F.B. Heron Foundation

Michael Swack

Communities & Banking, pages 28-30

The Role of PRIs in Creating Scale and Leverage

Nancy O. Andrews

presentation to PRI conference

Exploring Alternative Forms of Fundraising

Kim Klein

Shelterforce Online, issue 139

Philanthropic Field

Jeffrey Fraser

H Magazine, volume 4, number 4, pages 20-27

Where Money Meets Mission: Breaking Down the Firewall Between Foundation Investments and Programming

Jed Emerson

Stanford Social Innovation Review

Helping People Help Themselves: A Conversation with F.B. Heron's Luther Ragin

William Baue

SRI Advisor.com

Current Practices in Program-Related Investing

Frances Brody, Kevin McQueen, Christa Velazquez and John Weiser

New PRI Opportunity Garners Flexible Capital for Award-Winning Community Development Corporations

Calvert Foundation

Is Distinguished Philanthropy Still Possible?

Edward Skloot

Keynote address to the Annual Conference of the Minnesota Council on Foundations

A Basic Guide to Program-Related Investments

Christie I. Baxter

The Grantsmanship Center Magazine

Solutions for Impact Investors: From Strategy to Implementation

Steven Godeke and Raúl Pomares et al.

Mission-Related Investing: A Policy and Implementation Guide for Foundation Trustees

Steven Godeke and Doug Bauer

Investing by U.S. Foundations

Anne Stetson and Mark Kramer

Just Another Emperor?: The Myths and Realities of Philanthrocapitalism

Michael Edwards

The PRI Directory: Charitable Loans and Other Program-Related Investments by Foundations, 2nd ed.

Foundation Center

To Improve Health and Health Care, Volume V: Program Related Investments

Marco Navarro and Peter Goodman

Program-Related Investments: A Technical Manual for Foundations

Christine I. Baxter

Freedom Funders: Philanthropy and the Civil Rights Movement, 1955-1965

Sean Dobson

Reflections on Living Cities' Integration Initiative

Ben Hecht

Building a Strategic Learning and Evaluation System for Your Organization

Hallie Preskill and Katelyn Mack

Strategic Co-funding: An approach for expanded impact

Cynthia Gair

Evaluating Social Innovation

Hallie Preskill and Tanya Beer

The Patient Capital Collaborative: Healing Finance Through Impact Investment

Capital Institute

Field Study No. 3

Social Impact Bonds, A promising new financial model to accelerate social innovation and improve government performance

Jeffrey B. Liebman

Green Fixed Income Investing

Community Capital Management

Community Investing: Opportunities Across Asset Classes

Janet Kalwat

Foundations and Public Policy Grantmaking

Julia Coffman

Compounding Impact: Mission Investing by US Foundations

Sarah Cooch, Mark Kramer, Fi Cheng, Adeeb Mahmud, Ben Marx and Matthew Rehrig

The Mission in the Marketplace: How Responsible Investing Can Strengthen the Fiduciary Oversight of Foundation Endowments and Enhance Philanthropic Missions

Joshua Humphreys

A Case Study— Expanding Philanthropy: Mission-Related Investing at the F.B. Heron Foundation

Michael Swack, Jack Northrup and Janet Prince

Investing for Maximum Impact: Exploring Aspects of the Investment Spectrum

Jed Emerson

A Value Vision for the 21st Century: The Role of Foundations in Creating Sustainable Capitalism

Jed Emerson

A Call for Mission-Based Investing by America’s Private Foundations

Rick Cohen

Providing Safe, Decent, and Affordable Places to Live—Innovative Philanthropic Approaches to Housing Affordability and Smart Growth, Spotlight, no. 11

Funders Network for Smart Growth and Livable Communities

Program on Social Enterprise Case Studies: The Baltimore Fund

Carin Rosenberg and Ricardo Joseph

A Capital Idea: Total Foundation Asset Management and the Unified Investment Strategy

Jed Emerson

Research Paper no. 1786

Nonprofit Capital: A Review of Problems and Strategies

William P. Ryan

From Grants to Groundbreaking: Unlocking Impact Investments

Amy Chung and Jed Emerson

ImpactAssets Issue Brief

Private Capital, Public Good: How Smart Federal Policy Can Galvanize Impact Investing – and Why It’s Urgent

Report on US Sustainable, Responsible and Impact Investing Trends

The Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment released its tenth biannual report on what it labels the “sustainable, responsible and impact investing sector.” The report identified place-based investing, largely by public funds directing investment into their city or state, “as a new trend, accounting for nearly $90 billion in assets.” Additionally, the use of environmental, social and governance criteria by institutional investors, once a small market niche, now covers over $4 trillion in market assets, representing a four-fold increase from 2012 to 2014 alone.

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