Remembering a Friend and Community Investment Leader: Joan Bavaria

Calvert Foundation wishes to acknowledge with deep regret the recent passing of one of social investment's great leaders, Joan Bavaria. Joan was a creative force and a change agent. Perhaps best known as the founder of Trillium Asset Management, the Social Investment Forum and the Ceres Coalition, Joan has been at the forefront of bringing to life the socially responsible investment industry. She was also a pioneer in integrating community investment into a prominent place within asset management long before it was popular to do so.

Joan was a good friend to Calvert Foundation, and just a few weeks ago shared with me how happy she was that we had brought together Trillium and the Foundation in a new partnership. She was also a personal friend of mine and my family's. I first met Joan through my dad, Paul Freundlich, who has been close to Joan since the mid-'80s. I then got to know her more directly through visits with her wonderful husband Jesse and my wife and son. She was an incredible and inspiring woman.

The love and respect that is pouring out from across the country and indeed the world is testament to Joan's impact on us all. She will live on in our hearts, inspiring us to think deeper, work smarter and harder, question convention and build audacious and effective new models...and that is what we will take forward in her memory.

Tim Freundlich is Director, Strategic Initiatives at Calvert Foundation.

ASK SHARI

What steps has Calvert Foundation taken to protect the assets I have invested in the Community Investment Note?

Calvert Foundation has always worked to maintain sound fiscal management, managing our liquidity carefully to handle the many ebbs and flows of our investors and borrowers. Now more than ever, we realize how important it is to safeguard your assets, and are taking extra steps to ensure that the Community Investment Note is a sound investment option.

We currently have more than $30 million (roughly 18 percent of our total assets) invested in a manner that could be redeemed if we needed to pay back investors and absorb borrower risk. In light of these difficult times, we have also increased the monitoring of our portfolio so that we can work with borrowers before problems become too great. We are also pleased to say that our portfolio delinquency levels as of October 2008 have dropped below one percent. Our 13-year track record shows that the vigilant management of our borrowers and the diligence of our investment team have been successful strategies.

Most importantly, our portfolio is still working hard to accomplish a key mission: alleviating poverty. To illustrate the real meaning of all of these facts and figures, I would like to introduce you to just one of the many families we helped this year. Terry Kellar, a single, working mother in Ravenna, Ohio, had a hard time finding affordable housing for her family of three kids. Neighborhood Development Services Inc. offered her the opportunity to move into a brand new lease-purchase house. This greatly improved their lives, and Terry will be able to take ownership of the home they love in 15 years with minimal debt. This is not the typical type of housing story you hear lately, given rampant foreclosures and evictions. Instead, this is a shining example of the type of innovative solutions community development organizations are implementing to help families stay in their homes.

These are the real people who benefit from your support. An easy answer to this uncertain market would be to simply stop lending. This is what most mainstream banks are doing. Instead, we recognize that our financing could be an important lifeline for nonprofits serving communities most affected by the troubled economy. But we need your help. Please consider a tax-deductible contribution to Calvert Foundation to help us continue to lend and grow communities at a time when access to credit is needed most.

> Ask Shari a question.

 

Photos courtesy of CL Fund and David Paul Morris for Evolution