Benefit of Chicago is a $100 million fund which makes impact investments in communities that have been ignored by investors who live nearby. Calvin Holmes of Chicago Community Loan Fund (CCLF) believes aligning investors with nonprofits is key, "Many of the impact investors and traditional social sector investors invest for very short time horizons, and the problems that we are trying to solve have taken generations to develop. It takes long-term money to fix problems that were long in the making."
The MacArthur Foundation is providing $50 million in startup capital along with impact investment management expertise (30 years of experience and $500 million in impact investment assists around the globe). Benefit of Chicago is not part of the MacArthur Foundation's specific programs. The purpose of the fund it to focus attention on urgent needs across the region. It will provide financing to a wide array of organizations.
A customized collection of grant news from foundations and the federal government from around the Web.
Here are the star companies that have succeeded in their corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs. The companies were gathered by Civic 50, a national initiative to survey and rank S&P 500 corporations on how they engage with the communities they serve and utilize best practices in their corporate cultures.