Coastal Community Foundation to Make $3 Million Investment
Place-Based Impact Fund Launches April 9th
CHARLESTON, SC – Thursday, March 29, 2018 – Coastal Community Foundation (CCF), a philanthropic organization serving nine counties across coastal South Carolina, is launching a competitive initiative to invest up to $3 million in regional projects focused on positive community outcomes.
Known as Place-Based Impact Investing, the strategy combines the traditional investment practice of earning financial returns with an intentional emphasis on social returns. CCF is one of the few community foundations in the Southeast to employ a place-based impact initiative as part of its overall organizational strategic framework.
“We know a focused, intentional effort must be placed on impact investing if we’re ever going to create sustainable solutions to coastal South Carolina’s most pervasive problems,” said Darrin Goss, Sr., President and CEO of the Foundation. “The CCF Board of Directors voted in February 2017 to dedicate capital for an impact investment program. Research into the trends and best practices of place-based impact investing has led us to this pivotal moment. We are proud to say we’re making a substantial initial investment of $3 million.”
“Foundations are by nature instruments of social change. Traditionally, that change has been made through grantmaking,” said Christa Divis, CCF Vice President of Finance and Chief Financial Officer. “Today, we are enhancing our capacity to make change.”
Because investments for impact are made intentionally, and with a goal to achieve a social outcome along with a financial return, they more wholly represent CCF’s mission and mindset. “Impact investing aligns both sides of the house—earning a monetary return while doing good,” added Divis.
CCF is launching the first investment portfolio under the new initiative with the intention to launch future portfolio investments.
Loans, loan guarantees, and/or equity investments for projects seeking between $50,000 and $600,000 in capital will be chosen from a pool of qualified applicants from across the Foundation’s nine-county footprint. Projects must illustrate the promise of both social and financial returns, and preference will be given to projects focused on one of the following three themes:
• Access to economic opportunity
• Education
• Affordable places and inclusive spaces
How to Learn More and Apply
CCF will hold an information session Monday, April 9th at 9 a.m. in its downtown Charleston office located at 635 Rutledge Avenue, Suite 201. The information session will cover expectations for returns (both social and financial), types of projects, size of investments, and the application process.
Organizations with projects in process or launching within the next six months and seeking capital are invited to attend and find out more about the initiative and timeline. The session is free and open to the public, but space is limited. Please RSVP by emailing rsvp@coastalcommunityfoundation.org. If you are unable to attend but would like to learn more, please contact us at (843) 723-3635.