FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Press Contact: Carrie Hutchison, 301.280.6003, carrie.hutchison@calvertfoundation.org

Rockefeller Foundation Awards Strategic Planning Grant to Calvert Foundation

Bethesda, MD - August 15, 2011 - The Rockefeller Foundation, a global leader in philanthropy, has awarded a $515,000 grant to Calvert Foundation. The grant will fund strategic planning efforts that will help determine next steps for Calvert Foundation’s role as a leader in impact investing. Calvert Foundation, a public charity, raises money from the public to finance community groups providing jobs, healthcare, and more in the U.S. and microfinance and other poverty alleviating activities in developing countries. The objective of this type of investing is to provide a social and financial return to investors.

Calvert Foundation has experienced significant transformation over the past year, in the form of new management, growth of nearly $100 million in assets under management, and strategic partnerships directly and through our wholly owned subsidiary Community Investment Partners with large financial institutions such as Citibank.

“I believe we have reached a critical inflection point in our history,” said Lisa Hall, who was named the new President and CEO of Calvert Foundation in January. “In order to maximize our contribution to the rapid evolution of the industry, we must also evolve. We are very fortunate to have the continued support of the Rockefeller Foundation as we look toward a bright future for both Calvert Foundation and the impact investing industry.”

Calvert Foundation has engaged Monitor Institute, a strategic consulting firm focused on the social sector, to help create a strategic roadmap by early 2012. The strategy work is focusing on ways in which Calvert Foundation can strengthen the impact investing movement, increase the number of investors and other stakeholders who are engaged in the movement, and fill a gap that traditional capital markets fail to reach by redirecting capital to disadvantaged communities in a financially and environmentally sustainable manner. Katherine Fulton, a partner at Monitor and an expert in the field of impact investing, is directly involved in this project.

Having established itself as the primary public option for low-dollar investing in deals that are often only available to large private investors, Calvert envisions a world where every investor is an impact investor. Implementation of the new strategy framework is scheduled to begin in the spring of 2012 and will encompass both Calvert Foundation and their wholly owned subsidiary, Community Investment Partners, a Registered Investment Advisor.

This grant highlights a historically close relationship with the Rockefeller Foundation dating back to Calvert Foundation’s inception in 1995. For many years, the two organizations have frequently united in joint efforts to drive capital to communities where it is needed most.

“We are pleased to support Calvert Foundation as they continue to play a leading role in the movement to transform investment behavior and help catalyze innovative social change worldwide,” said Antony Bugg-Levine, Managing Director of Rockefeller Foundation. “The combined resources of philanthropy and government are simply not up to the task of solving the world’s most urgent and challenging problems. While annual private donations in the U.S. peaked at around $300 billion in 2008, for-profit capital markets are estimated by many to be more than $80 trillion. By harnessing just a small fraction of this enormous pool of capital, both Rockefeller Foundation and Calvert Foundation believe that billions of dollars could be redirected toward activities such as job creation, improved health outcomes, and climate adaptation, that promote resilience and equitable growth among the world’s poor.”

- ### -

About The Rockefeller Foundation: The Rockefeller Foundation’s mission to promote the well-being of people throughout the world has remained unchanged since its founding in 1913. Today, that mission is applied to an era of rapid globalization. Our vision is that this century will be one in which globalization’s benefits are more widely shared and its challenges are more easily weathered. To realize this vision, the Foundation seeks to achieve two fundamental goals in our work. First, we seek to build resilience that enhances individual, community and institutional capacity to survive, adapt, and grow in the face of acute crises and chronic stresses. Second, we seek to promote growth with equity in which the poor and vulnerable have more access to opportunities that improve their lives. Learn more at www.rockefellerfoundation.org.

About Calvert Foundation: Calvert Foundation, a nonprofit organization based in Bethesda, MD, is a pioneer and leader in impact investing. We raise funds through our Community Investment Note, and then invest those funds in organizations around the world that empower people living in low-income communities. Since our inception in 1995, our investors have helped to create over 528,000 jobs for low-income individuals, built or rehabilitated nearly 20,000 affordable homes, and financed close to 27,000 nonprofit facilities and social enterprises. We have successfully maintained a 98.8% repayment rate from borrowers and a 100% repayment rate to our investors. Learn more at www.calvertfoundation.org.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Calvert Foundation is a separate entity from Calvert Investments Inc. and its products should not be confused with any Calvert Investments-sponsored investment product. In order to avoid confusion and be consistent when referring to Calvert Foundation in print news stories, always use “Calvert Foundation” as opposed to “Calvert” in headlines and subheads.