I’ve spent the past four months immersed in launching Calvert Foundation’s new Women INvesting in Women INitiative (WIN-WIN). Which means I’ve spent the last four months talking, writing, tweeting, and learning about women. And while I will never tire of women, I’m just going to stop talking about them for a minute to say this: I think men are pretty great, too. And I know they are critical to this whole women’s empowerment thing.

I have had the benefit of being raised by a father who is a self-described feminist. Someone who encouraged my sister and me in all we did, whether it was breaking the 3-point shooting record in high school basketball or starring in school plays. (I’ll let those who know me tell you which one is more dramatic, me or my sis.) He did the same for the thousands of students he taught and coached and mentored over his 35 years of teaching at a public high school. He is also – like 49 percent of the U.S. population – a guy. And it helps to have more than just the 51 percent of the population that are women working to change a culture that currently allows stats like these to continue:

- On average, women are paid 77 cents for every dollar men are paid for doing the same job. (Institute for Women’s Policy Research)

- While women are founding businesses at 1.5 times the national average, only 3-5% of all women-owned businesses receive venture capital funding.

This isn’t just an issue here in the States. As Melanne Verveer, the U.S. State Department’s ambassador at large for global women’s issues, wrote in Foreign Policy recently, women are a global economic issue:

“It’s no coincidence that those countries that deny women basic human rights are some of the poorest and least stable. According to the World Economic Forum, countries where men and women are closer to enjoying equal rights are far more economically competitive than those where the gender gap has left women and girls with limited or no access to medical care, education, elected office, and the marketplace.”

The day after we launched WIN-WIN in New York, I had the privilege of attending The Daily Beast/Newsweek’s Women in the World Summit, a three-day event telling the stories and challenges women face in different political, economic, cultural, and geographic settings. Some of the stories were gruesome (forced prostitution in Central America), some frustrating (women who fought for change during the Arab Spring movement are now being shut out of leadership positions), and some inspiring (the young entrepreneurs of sOccketball bring light to villages lacking power in Nigeria).

But some of my favorite speakers there were men (such as actor Gael García Bernal, who is working on a documentary about the issue of forced prostitution in Mexico). And as I looked around at the audience, I wished I saw more men.

As leaders, fathers, husbands, brothers, sons, friends, mentors, and more, the fact remains that men are often better positioned than women to make the changes we need to create a more equitable world.

So I’m asking the gentlemen: Check out WIN-WIN. But also attend the next Women in the World Summit. Serve as a mentor to women at your office. Encourage your daughters to become scientists and mathematicians and politicians. This will be good for your soul, but also very likely for your wallets. Because as we here at Calvert Foundation like to say (repeatedly, apparently), investing in women is smart economics.

Oh, and Dad – happy birthday (May 8th)! You don’t have to share it with Mother’s Day this year. Not that you ever minded.

With Mother’s Day coming up and WIN-WIN taking off, we’ve been talking a lot about moms lately. It’s easy to see why – moms inspire us. From the time we’re born and throughout our entire lives, we look to our mothers for support and guidance. We apply the lessons we learned at home as well as those we glean from our own experiences to nurture our own families and communities.

If we’re lucky, we find support and encouragement at work as well – and can grow professionally while making a lasting, positive difference in the world. At Calvert Foundation, we work together to create value for our investors, our partners and our borrowers – and that takes commitment.

Lorraine Gordon

We are also committed to “walking the walk,” and creating a positive environment in which our staff can thrive. That’s why we are delighted to announce the latest addition to the Calvert Foundation team: Lorraine Gordon. As Vice President of Human Resources, Lorraine will report directly to me so we can nurture the talent we already have in the office, as well as attract the best and the brightest new hires. It has always been a priority for us to develop the next generation of leaders in this sector, and I think it’s wonderful that so many of our staff joined the organization at the entry level – bringing their marvelous energy and enthusiasm.

And this is one of the ways in which Lorraine will be invaluable. Lorraine Gordon has a combined 25 years of experience as a leadership consultant, facilitator/workshop leader, executive coach, entrepreneur, and communications professional. She coaches leaders and teams on shifting and transforming their behaviors to better align with their own and their company’s culture and core values. Her coaching approach is goals-driven with emphasis on establishing trust, building awareness and accountability, and closing performance gaps.

She is also the author of a book about how moms inspire us called Momspirations, and has donated some copies for us to share with our friends (that’s you!). So, for Mother’s Day, to thank all of our supporters and people who are, have, or like moms, we’re giving away copies of Momspirations.

“I was inspired to write this book because I wanted to affirm my children of their worthiness and value. I wanted to shape their minds for success and give them a solid foundation. And for me, a solid foundation starts with paying attention to our words. Momspirations are practical empowering phases designed to inspire  a sense of self-worth and help children understand that they have a choice about how they think and behave.”

To claim your copy – just tell us on Facebook or via email how your mom inspired you.* It doesn’t have to be fancy. Something like, “My mom showed me every day how doing the right thing isn’t always easy, but it’s always better.” Or “My mom taught me how to raise a happy family, even when money was tight.”

Welcome Lorraine!

*We’ll distribute copies in the order in which we receive submissions until supplies run out. We’ll be in touch to find out where to send your book, and promise that we won’t use or share your address for any other purpose. Really, there’s no charge to you and no catch.

Carrie Hutchison

When he got up to the podium to close out the day’s events at the International Impact Investing Challenge last Friday, Rich Lyons, Dean of the Haas School of Business, said that the next generation of leaders will succeed because they have “confidence without attitude.” I scribbled this down, as did Paul Solli of Aperio Group, who was sitting next to me. “You like that too,” Paul said. And I realized that this was what made the whole day special: being in a room of people who were smart and caring and, well, confident without a bad or condescending attitude.

Paul and I, along with 15 others in the impact investing arena, served as judges for the International Impact Investing Challenge, put on by the Kellogg School of Management (and largely, the efforts of Jamie Jones – Assistant Director of Social Enterprise there – who has tireless energy and enthusiasm for this field). This is a competition open to graduate school students who submit ideas for investments that will create a financial return while making positive social change in the world. Now in its second year, the Challenge attracted over 40 submissions from student groups, and 11 were chosen by a panel of over 90 judges. Those 11 groups were invited to San Francisco to present. We chose the top four from those 11, and this “final four” presented to a larger audience of about 75 people that afternoon.

The winners of the Impact Investment Challenge – Himani Dilip Phadke, Kelcie Abraham, and Jonathan Strahl of Stanford – find out they’ve won. Their idea, REwiRE, is to bring electricity to communities in Indonesia.

The student presentations were thoughtful and impressive – bringing us business solutions to societal/environmental/economic problems around the world, from the lack of electricity in Indonesia, to distressed cattle ranchers in the American Midwest, to women unable to afford educational opportunities in Latin America. The always dynamic Dave Chen, Partner at Equilibrium Capital Group, pointed out that many of these student groups put these ideas and presentations together without guidance from social entrepreneurs or programs that support impact investing at their schools. I am hopeful that this lack of guidance and mentorship is changing. I heard an estimate this past week that there are nearly 5,000 social entrepreneurship classes being taught in the U.S. This is a trend we in the industry – as well as outside, in “traditional” finance and for-profit businesses – need to support. I applaud Kellogg (as well as the San Francisco Federal Reserve and my fellow judges) for creating this competition to recognize and reward those bringing plausible impact investment products to life.

Government is playing an encouraging role here as well.  In his keynote address to the larger crowd gathered that afternoon, Jonathan Greenblatt, the Director of the recently created White House Office of Social Innovation, listed a number of initiatives that have been created to support jobs and finance social programs. There is a positive correlation, he pointed out, between civic participation (such as voting, volunteering, donating, etc.,) and improved economic outcomes. In other words, impact investing isn’t just a feel-good activity; it could be a key driver to turning our economy around.

Meet the winners of this year’s Challenge, and find out how you can participate (or encourage students at your alma mater to do so) in 2012, which will likely be in DC. Coincidence? Jonathan Greenblatt would probably say not.

Justin Conway

On Monday, Catherine Godschalk, Director, U.S. Investments, wrote about Calvert Foundation’s portfolio strategy, and the role of participatory lending in supporting the growing demands upon community health providers. Today, Justin Conway shares his thoughts on his recent visit to the West Berkeley Family Practice (WBFP). In Berkeley, the WBFP, like most community health centers, is the primary health services provider for the uninsured population and one of few dedicated providers for low income residents.  West Berkeley has the lowest median income in the city of Berkeley and an estimated 32% of children in the area live in poverty.

Calvert Foundation just funded a $2 million loan to support the renovation and expansion of WBFP. This project will enable the center – which serves 6,600 patients annually – to expand its facility from 12,000 to 20,000 square feet, increasing its capacity to serve 9,600 patients within five years. The clinic provides a holistic patient-centered care model, where patients can access primary care, mental health care, chronic care management, and wellness counseling all under one roof, regardless of their patients’ insurance status.

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By Justin Conway, Relationship Manager at Calvert Foundation, Twitter: @JustJBO

Walking up to the West Berkeley Family Practice, I could see and hear a lot of construction taking place on the outside, but wasn’t sure how I was going to get inside.  Felena Guye, a loan officer at NCB Capital Impact, who had been working with us on financing the clinic’s expansion, saw me and introduced herself.  She led me around all the construction to enter a temporary entrance to the clinic.  While the construction crews were busy outside, the inside of the clinic was even busier.  There, I met Nance Rosencranz, who kindly took me from the busy waiting room, to cramped staff offices set-up in the former school building’s auditorium, to a redone staff kitchen that they use to teach healthy cooking classes, and to the actual patient rooms themselves.

Along the way, I learned about the care they provide to West Berkeley’s low-income population, which includes everything from the different types of medical attention to the vouchers they give to patients to get fresh food at farmer’s markets.  The diversity not only of the people they serve, but also the range of services they provide to the community, is what I will remember most about LifeLong.  I am thrilled that we are helping them expand to meet the community’s needs and look forward to visiting again once completed. To learn more be sure to check out our video on the partnership with LifeLong.

The Bureller-Goldsons, a family of four generations, all receive treatment at LifeLong’s West Berkeley Family Practice (WBFP). Gwendolyn, the eldest family member, says, “I feel safe. I feel like all my needs are going to be met and that LifeLong is on my side.”

Catherine Godschalk

At Calvert Foundation, we adapt to meet the needs of multiple communities we serve: investors, community development organizations, and communities in need. As markets shift, our strategies to meet these needs must shift as well. Since last July, I’ve been leading our U.S. investment strategy along a new path to best address the shifting needs and opportunities in the market. One element of this change is a new focus on co-lending, or participating, with our longstanding borrowers at the project level where additional capital is sorely needed. Another new area of focus for us, and for the community development finance industry as a whole, is to support the growing demands upon community health providers.  These organizations are on the front line in communities suffering from high rates of unemployment and poverty, and are often the only healthcare provider for the uninsured for miles around.  As our CDFI partners begin to help community health centers expand their services to meet the community need, they in turn need willing partners like Calvert Foundation on the capital side.

Calvert Foundation believes the community development finance industry has a leading role to play in bringing about better health outcomes and healthier communities throughout the country, and is committed to responding to these needs in communities and to providing flexible, mission-oriented capital where gaps are apparent.

To this end, we just funded a $2 million loan to support the renovation and expansion of the West Berkeley Family Practice (WBFP), a community health center of LifeLong Medical Care (LMC) in Berkeley, California. LMC is a nonprofit community health center founded over 35 years ago that offers quality health and social services to people of all ages, regardless of their ability to pay.  The organization has six primary care medical clinics, a dental clinic, two adult day health centers, and a supportive housing program within the Alameda, Contra Costa and Marin Counties of California. This loan is slightly different from the majority of our loans because it places us on a team of investors working to make projects possible that we couldn’t have done on our own. Our $2 million is part of a $7.5 million participation loan led by NCB Capital Impact (NCBCI) (with other funding coming from Northern California Community Loan Fund and Partners for the Common Good).

In Berkeley, the WBFP, like most community health centers, is the primary health services provider for the uninsured population and one of few dedicated providers for low income residents.  West Berkeley has the lowest median income in the city of Berkeley and an estimated 32% of children in the area live in poverty. The WBFP currently serves 6,600 patients annually, of which over a third have no health insurance.  The project that Calvert Foundation funded will allow WBFP to expand its facility from 12,000 to 20,000 square feet, increasing its capacity to serve 9,600 patients within five years. The clinic provides a holistic patient-centered care model, where patients can access primary care, mental health care, chronic care management, and wellness counseling all under one roof, regardless of their insurance status.

The timing for financing community health centers could not be more crucial. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 proposed an ambitious expansion of Medicaid coverage, with the results that health centers like WBFP which primarily serve Medicaid-insured populations must grow from serving 20 million patients to 40 million patients annually over the next few years. At the same time, the Federal Reserve System, led by the San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation created the Healthy Communities Initiative to link the community development finance an health sectors as part of a holistic, localized approach to revitalizing low-income communities. The Healthy Communities Initiative has been raising awareness around ideas such as whether entities like CDFIs can help “bend of the cost curve” of health care, improving our national outlook both in terms of health outcomes and cost of healthcare. While health centers have not historically been a large target for CDFI financing, CDFIs are now planning to act as a key partner to finance this expansion, and they need help. Most health center projects are too large for a single CDFI to fund alone; that’s where Calvert Foundation’s participation strategy comes in.

Finally, this loan is also one of the first loans funded under Calvert Foundation’s new Women Investing in Women Initiative (WIN-WIN).  Recently launched in early March, WIN-WIN aims to raise $20 million to invest in organizations and projects that create economic development opportunities for women around the world. The main criteria for WIN-WIN borrowers emphasize whether their products and services primarily support and empower women.  The West Berkeley Family Practice is managed and led by women; most of their customers are women; and they provide critical services to increase women’s economic opportunity such as child care and reproductive health care. They are an excellent example of an innovative organization trying to meet the community’s needs in the most holistic way possible, and we are honored to be able to support their work.

On Monday, learn more about WBFP and how this loan will support their work, as my colleague Justin Conway shares his thoughts on his recent visit to the center.

Thanks to Tina Browne, Margot Kane, and Justin Conway for their contributions.

Caroline Bressan

As we began our descent, rolling green mountains peeked through the thick Colombian clouds. I had arrived in Popayan, a city of about 300,000 people located in Southwestern Colombia, in the heart of the Cauca Valley. People ask my impression of Colombia, and the first thing that comes to mind is, “It’s green! It’s really, really green.” As someone who loves the outdoors, this lush green quality gave the whole place a fresh energy. I was there to visit Women’s World Banking Popayan (in Spanish abbreviated as FMM Popayan), a microfinance institution (MFI) and a Calvert Foundation partner for over 10 years.

During my visit, I wanted to learn more about how FMM Popayan was serving nearby agricultural areas. In 2011, FMM Popayan won the Inter-American Development Bank award for Best Rural Microfinance Institution. Since 1985, FMM Popayan has been the leading provider of microfinance services to women in the Cauca region and now throughout Colombia. Their president, Leonor Melo de Velasco, is looked to as a thought leader in the microfinance industry globally. She was recently interviewed in Upsides Magazine, and is a very impressive example of female entrepreneurship in her own right.

FMM Popayan launched a rural loan product three years ago and had experience with the ups and downs of making agricultural financing work for both the client and the institution. Their goal was to meet the needs of small producers with uneven cash flows, and to encourage a culture of payment in an area where financial services have typically been inaccessible.

To learn more about how the product worked in practice, I sat down with Nestor, a 23-year old small-scale cattle farmer who recently repaid his first loan from FMM Popayan. For Nestor, no banks would offer him credit because he’d never taken a loan before, and had no credit history.

The catch in many developing countries is that you need a credit history to have access to credit – but if you come from an excluded area of society, access to that first credit can be a huge, sometimes insurmountable, task. Enter a microfinance institution like FMM Popayan. Nestor learned about the institution through his mother and mother-in-law, who both had accessed loans from the organization in the past and now connected Nestor to their loan officer. After explaining his idea – to purchase two cows and sell their milk to market – the loan officer went back to FMM Popayan to get the appropriate approvals. Then, and this is where FMM Popayan is truly innovative, Nestor and the loan officer designed his repayment plan to mimic the cycles of production. That way, when Nestor was selling a lot of milk, he made a bigger payment on his loan and when there wasn’t anything to sell, he paid a minimum amount. By making this adjustment in payment cycles as well as extending credit to first-time borrowers, FMM Popayan is providing enormous value to the rural areas. Nestor plans to take a second loan to add higher quality chickens to his farm, and another stream of income for his family.

I met with a number of FMM Popayan staff members during my visit. Each one was excited and proud to be a part of such an innovative institution. On my walk home through the winding white streets of Popayan I felt proud as well – Calvert Foundation has watched FMM Popayan grow and mature over the past 10 years and our support has helped them to become the thought leader of rural microfinance that they are today.

Noelle St.Clair

By Noelle St.Clair, Associate at Calvert Foundation, Twitter: @noLstclair

Earlier this month, I had the privilege of representing Calvert Foundation at an event organized by Women Effect Investments, an initiative of Criterion Ventures.  This gathering drew over 60 powerful female leaders and was centered on the concept of gender lens investing.

What is gender lens investing? Consider how a lens allows one to focus – to see more clearly.  In an investment context, focusing our lens on gender calls our attention to the unique value that is created when we invest in women and girls.  At the event, Jackie VanderBrug of Criterion Ventures explained that gender lens investing includes three components: Access to Capital, Workplace Equity, and Products and Services.

Organizations such as Acumen Fund, Golden Seeds and Women’s World Banking discussed the vehicles they are using to mobilize investment capital to support and empower women.  I was proud to represent Calvert Foundation and introduce our new project, WIN-WIN: the Women INvesting in Women INitiative. WIN-WIN excited the crowd because it specifically addresses each of the three components to gender lens investing.

Access to Capital: Deeply embedded in Calvert Foundation’s mission and purpose is a belief that all people should have access to capital.  For over 16 years we have been working in partnership with others who share this belief to provide access to capital in underserved communities.  Through our partnerships with microfinance institutions and CDFIs, we have seen that when women experience economic gain, so do their families and communities.  WIN-WIN will make $20 million available to organizations and projects that create opportunities for women around the world.

Workplace Equity: We believe that WIN-WIN investments will have catalytic effects, expanding beyond their immediate intended impact.  Over time, we will evaluate the changes that occur as a result of our work – the delta effect.  We expect the investments we make to create new jobs for women, influence organizations to increase the amount of female clients they serve, and increase female representation on management teams and in board rooms.

Products and Services: Lastly, WIN-WIN will provide products and services not only to women in need, but also to people who want to join us by investing to provide opportunity for women around the world.  For as little as $20, individuals can invest in WIN-WIN to receive a financial AND social return.

If someone has ever invested in your dreams and future, consider paying it forward by investing in a woman looking to make her own future brighter.  If you would rather pay back that person who cared enough to invest in you, show them your appreciation by making a donation to WIN-WIN in their honor.  Together we can create the change that we are seeking.

By East Meets West CEO, John Anner. Twitter: @emwglobal

Thanks to a loan from the Calvert Foundation, East Meets West (EMW) has the final element in place to manage an output-based aid program in upper secondary education.

• Read the announcement: “Calvert Foundation Provides $500k in Financing to East Meets West”

John Anner, CEO, East Meets West

Let me explain: “Output-based aid” (OBA) is a financing model that pays an intermediary organization, like EMW, only for results delivered. So, our OBA education program provides payments to private schools based on their demonstrated success in educating low-income students. As the financial intermediary, EMW sets up the program and handles the money, but the schools do all the work–and take the performance risk.

If the schools succeed, as measured by students’ test scores, grades and attendance, EMW pays the schools for those students’ expenses (tuition, fees, books, etc.). If they don’t succeed, we don’t pay them. This creates a powerful incentive for the schools to address the needs of their most disadvantaged pupils. (For a close-up look at one such student, read “Output-based Aid at Work” below.)

EMW’s funds come from the World Bank, which is many things, most of them pretty good, but “fast” is not one. They can take several months to review documentation and process payments – a delay which can cause the schools serious cash-flow problems, making them unwilling, or in some cases unable, to participate in the program. When fewer schools participate, it’s the students who lose out.

And that’s where Calvert Foundation fits in. The funds EMW borrows from Calvert Foundation serve as bridge financing, allowing us to pay the schools the moment their documentation is complete. This makes everybody happy (except possibly the program manager, who now has another ream of paperwork to fill out.)

Why, you may ask, go to all this trouble? Is OBA worth it? My answer is, yes, because OBA tackles the very real asymmetry problem inherent in most philanthropy: lack of feedback between the aid recipients and the source of funds.

Making Aid Accountable

In the private sector, this is not a huge problem. If I run a restaurant, I’m likely to receive substantial feedback about whether I’m providing good food at a reasonable price. Professionals and amateurs publish reviews, the health department makes periodic inspections, and customers vote with their feet. If the food’s no good, I’ll go out of business.

In the nonprofit sector, if I’m a donor looking to help poor people in a far-away place, I give the funds to an intermediary, a non-governmental organization (NGO) like EMW. EMW uses the money to implement the program, then sends me a nice report. But how do I know what they say is true? In most cases, I have no direct contact with the beneficiaries, unless it’s on site visits controlled by the intermediary. There are no independent agencies verifying how things were done, and whether the recipients were pleased with the service they received. I have no idea if another agency could have done the same job for less money, or if the people really wanted the project in the first place.

OBA aid payments are made only after results are verified. Take the $4.5 million grant approved by the World Bank for EMW’s Clean Water program. To build the water systems and connect the households, we borrowed funds from a commercial bank. When the projects were complete, an independent verification agency spent weeks in the field visiting our water systems and verifying that they met the WB’s large number of criteria for water quality, environmental review, open bidding, etc. Once the World Bank was satisfied that we had met the terms of the agreement, they reimbursed us at a pre-negotiated rate that covered our actual expenses, but at maximum efficiency.

If EMW failed to deliver, we would not have been reimbursed (thankfully, this has not happened). In other words, we as the intermediary agency took on the performance risk – no performance, no grant. Using this funding mechanism, EMW has brought clean water to 300,000 people in Vietnam over the past five years, and we are actively supporting the government of Vietnam to use this model on a larger scale.

By making the intermediary agency accountable for outcomes, not just disbursement, OBA short-circuits the asymmetry problem of international development assistance. It creates incentives to do the right thing, at the right price, to the beneficiaries’ satisfaction. It’s not a panacea, but at EMW it’s been a powerful mechanism for improving programs and increasing organizational capacity.

Combined with bridge financing, a well-designed OBA program can line up the incentives so that all parties are focused on delivering high-quality, sustainable results. It’s not risk-free, but that’s part of the beauty of the model. Why shouldn’t intermediary organizations be held accountable for results, and not just expenditures? I know, I know, it’s a crazy idea. But it might be the kind of crazy idea that helps development work become both more effective and more efficient.

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Output-based Aid at Work

Nguyen Duy Hoi (right) and family

Odds were against Nguyen Duy Hoi making it to high school at all. But today, the earnest young teenager is one of the top six students in his 11th grade class at Nguyen Hue School, Binh Dinh Province, Vietnam.

Poverty, illness and debt have all conspired against Hoi. His parents are subsistence farmers who are both in poor health, and have gone into debt to pay for medical treatment and Hoi’s sister’s education.

But with the help of an innovative education program, and through his own hard work, Hoi has beaten the odds and stayed in school, getting the education that promises to help him end the cycle of poverty for himself and his family.

East Meets West helped Hoi fight those tough odds through the GPOBA Secondary Education Program, which uses a unique combination of local partnerships and results-based financing to support thousands of similar at-risk students. The program works with community groups to connect with needy students and then supports their education through a financing mechanism called “output-based aid.”

Hoi’s story demonstrates how this works. At the end of ninth grade, he was accepted to a high school, but his parents couldn’t afford the fees. EMW’s local partner, a social organization called the Study Promotion Association, introduced Hoi to the GPOBA Education Program. Once Hoi was accepted, the program guaranteed payment of his tuition to the high school at the end of the term, provided Hoi made acceptable progress. This was a win-win: Local groups helped find a good candidate for the program, and results-based financing helped insure that the high school, the student and his parents all worked together to reinforce his success.

Hoi’s life is still not easy. He leaves home every day at 5 am to make the eight-mile bicycle ride to school. He studies hard to earn top grades and hopes to study business at a university in Ho Chi Minh City. His goal, he says, is to prove that the GPOBA Education program made a good investment in him.

Recently, with the launch of the Women INvesting in Women INitiative, we reflected on several women who have had a tremendous impact on the shaping of Calvert Foundation and the impact investing industry altogether. Rebecca Adamson, an original founder of Calvert Foundation, has been a force for indigenous peoples’ rights for over 40 years. As evidenced by the following clip, she brings a unique perspective to the social investing movement. She challenges us to investigate our understanding of wealth, sufficiency, and reciprocity.

Rebecca Adamson: the understanding of sufficiency from Katie Teague on Vimeo.

By Lisa Hall, President and CEO at Calvert Foundation, Twitter: @LisaGreenHall

We live in phenomenal times, in a world where women have achieved phenomenal success  in business, government, and personal endeavors.  This week Calvert Foundation launched our new Women INvesting in Women INitiative (WIN-WIN), which will help empower women around the world. In connection with the launch, we asked people to tell us stories about women who have inspired them. I have been so personally touched by these stories, and I’m reminded of the many phenomenal women on whose shoulders I stand. WIN-WIN is an opportunity to remember and celebrate women who have been relentless advocates for social and economic justice. I am inspired by countless women who were pioneers of impact investing before the term was ever created.

These women include Rebecca Adamson, to whom I owe a debt of gratitude for her role as one of the original founders of Calvert Foundation. Rebecca continues to inspire all of us at Calvert Foundation as we carry on her legacy.

Another phenomenal woman on whose shoulders I stand is Mary Houghton. Mary is a long-time board member of Calvert Foundation, co-founded ShoreBank, and had a pivotal role in expanding economic opportunity for thousands of families in Chicago, Cleveland, and Detroit. ShoreBank’s pioneering mission influenced so many organizations who continue to provide financial opportunity in low-income communities today.

And then there is Bonnie Wright, co-founder of the Center for Community Self-Help, the predecessor organization to Self-Help Credit Union, now the largest CDFI in the nation and an early partner of Calvert Foundation. What started as Bonnie’s business plan during her years at Yale has now grown into an institution that has provided almost $6 billion in financing to nearly 70,000 families, individuals, and organizations with a focus on traditionally underserved populations.

And, of course, I am also inspired by my mother, whose determination, tenacity, and perseverance continue to give me faith in what is possible.

Without women like Rebecca, Mary, Bonnie, and my mother, an initiative like WIN-WIN would not and could not exist. The goal of WIN-WIN is to place capital in the hands of women, especially low-income women, who don’t have access to loans through traditional means. That capital will come from investments by other women – and from all those who care about women. According to the Harvard Business Review, women control $20 trillion in spending globally. We want some of that money to be invested in women – both here in the United States and internationally.

When I say investing in women, I mean it in the truest sense. WIN-WIN investors will earn a financial return on their investments and receive their principal back at maturity. And their investments will help empower not just women, but the communities in which they live. When you invest in a woman, you invest in her family, her community, and her world. The data is clear. When 10% more women go to school, the GDP rises by 3%. When women own the same amount of land as men, the output is 10% greater. Investing in women is smart economics (see sources).

At Calvert Foundation, we know that at some point in time there was a phenomenal woman who invested in each of us: a teacher who recognized your potential, a grandmother who offered you guidance, a mentor who helped you in your career. Now, you have a chance to pay it forward by investing in a woman so that she can send her children to school, start a business, and improve the quality of her life.

This initiative is a call for every investor to be an impact investor, a call for all of us to align our investments with our values, a call for women – and those who care about them – to invest in other women. It’s a WIN-WIN.