Calvert Giving Fund
Multi-Housing News
April 27, 2007
Nonprofit Receives $1M Grant to Increase
Lending in Disadvantaged Communities
by Kelly Sheehan
APRIL 27, 2007 - Bethesda, Md. - Calvert Foundation, a nonprofit organization funding development projects in underserved communities nationwide, has received a $1-million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The investment will increase the Calvert Foundation’s net assets and its capacity to issue Community Investment Notes, which allow individual and institutional investors to invest in high social-impact projects while earning a modest financial return.
In the last year, Calvert Foundation has disbursed more than $120 million in loans to organizations helping people in poverty by providing affordable housing and funding efforts to rebuild and redevelop the Gulf Coast region as it recovers from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, as well as developing community facilities, promoting fair trade and developing micro-enterprise.
Grants such as this one can provide Calvert Foundation the ability to channel capital up to 20 times the value of the initial gift to community organizations. The visibility of such grants also serves to attract additional private capital.
Currently, Calvert Foundation has multiple ongoing initiatives that support community development in the U.S. and abroad. “We hope that this support will encourage others to join us in empowering communities through affordable housing, micro-enterprise development, social enterprise and more,” says Shari Berenbach, Calvert Foundation executive director.
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