2023 Year in Review

After sharing our 2023-2025 Strategic Plan in January, Calvert Impact executed on its strategy to bring new products to market to increase connectivity between the capital markets and communities. The theme of our 2023 Impact Report and our work overall was Demonstrate, Educate, Transform, which gets to the heart of what we do at Calvert Impact.

Nearly 30 years ago, the Community Investment Note® was created to demonstrate that it is possible for everyday investors to use their investment portfolios – no matter how big or small – to drive solutions to social and environmental challenges. Just as importantly, we have used lessons from the Community Investment Note® to educate the broader market on where we see persistent gaps, where capital is not flowing and why, and how others can join us. We have supported the development of more than a dozen other private note programs, syndicated more than 30 credit facilities, and shared our thought leadership on what we’ve tried, what we’ve learned, and how to join us in the fight for a better, more equitable financial system.

This is what it will take to truly transform the capital markets. It requires an organized value chain of actors to rebuild the broken links that exist between the capital markets and global communities. Our role is as translator between the needs of investors– scale, diversification, standardization, and liquidity – and the needs of our portfolio partners– flexibility, understanding of their markets, and values alignment.

“We have been able to expand our work due to a combination of investor interest, a unique market position and a clear strategy for our next chapter,” said President and CEO Jennifer Pryce. “This expansion has been in development for many years, but we started to see our strategy in action in 2023 and are excited for what the next year has in store. It’s clear that we must quickly advance our efforts to decarbonize our economy in a way that creates economic opportunity for all. The momentum is there, now we have to double down on scaling what works.”

Community Investment Note® Reaches New Milestone

2023 was a big year for our flagship product the Community Investment Note® (CIN), which surpassed the milestone of over $1 billion in sales through brokerage firms over the lifetime of the program, due to demand from individual and institutional investors, and their financial advisors.

The Community Investment Note® portfolio received independent BlueMark verification with Advanced ratings across all eight Impact Principles. Our Advanced scores earned us a spot on BlueMark’s Practice Leaderboard – which highlights impact investors with “best-in-class” impact measurement and management (IMM) practices according to BlueMark.

These milestones reflect our work and success in educating advisors and broadening the world of impact investing to more investors of all ages, backgrounds, and incomes. In this effort, we developed “Impact Investing: A Short Guide for Financial Advisors.” This guide is meant to both showcase the growing impact investing market and help financial advisors seize the opportunity it presents with their clients.

The Community Investment Note® portfolio continued to finance portfolio partners with direct solutions to global inequality and climate change, including:

• A new loan to Ugro Capital Unlimited to provide financing for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), with a specific focus on those owned or operated by women;
• New loans to Resident Ownership Capital, LLC and the LIIF Keeping Homes Affordable facility to finance the preservation of affordable housing and support emerging developers;
• An investment into the responsAbility Climate Start Agriculture and Food System’s Fund to provide long-term financing to innovative agribusinesses globally to mitigate climate change, reduce food loss, and promote resilience.

We were proud to spotlight two of our borrowers this year, Advance Global Capital (AGC) and Partner Community Capital (PCAP). AGC is a global impact investment management company who has supported over 34,000 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and created or maintained over 257,000 jobs by tailoring finance to local partners since 2012. PCAP is a certified community development financial institution (CDFI) focused on advancing equity and community flourishing in rural Appalachia and across the southeast. As of first quarter 2023, PCAP lent more than $142.9 million to 633 enterprises, more than half being owned by women or people of color and over 85% in rural or economically distressed communities.

Learn more about the Community Investment Note® and its impact:

• Community Investment Note®
• Impact Investing: A Short Guide for Financial Advisors
• Borrower Spotlight: Clean energy lending and technical assistance supported by Partner Community Capital
• Borrower Spotlight: Small Businesses Supported by Advance Global Capital

Cut Carbon Note Closing

Calvert Impact Climate, Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and a subsidiary of Calvert Impact, Inc., closed the first $30 million issuance of the $400 million Cut Carbon Note this fall to drive the decarbonization of our built environment, which accounts for about 40% of our national emissions. This asset-backed fixed-income product received investment grade ratings from DBRS Morningstar and has a portfolio with most projects adhering to PACE Equity’s CIRRUS™ Low Carbon Standard, which has been designed in collaboration with the New Buildings Institute.

This product gives investors a tangible and meaningful opportunity to finance sustainability upgrades for commercial and multifamily buildings to reduce their carbon emissions. The first series saw participation from over 70 investors ranging from $1,000 to $10 million, which will finance 12 green buildings projects and cumulatively save 82,856 metric tons of carbon dioxide, 38.7 million gallons of water, and $21.5 million in energy costs.

Learn more about the Cut Carbon Note to stay informed on the second issuance or read our press release.

A Better Banking System

One year after announcing the development of the Mission Driven Bank Fund (MDBF), an initiative designed to make the banking system more sustainable and inclusive, we announced our first close of over $110 million. Anchored by Microsoft and Truist, MDBF supports Minority Depository Institution (MDI) and Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) banks by providing capital and technical support so they can grow their ability to provide financial products and services in low-wealth communities, rural communities, and communities of color. Calvert Impact and our partner, Elizabeth Park Capital Management, seek to drive growth and financial resiliency in the mission-driven bank sector, to reduce the racial wealth gap.

Learn more on the MDBF website and read the press release.

Launching of our State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI) Strategy

Throughout 2023, with the help of our partners, we have successfully launched three loan participation programs under our strategy to leverage the State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI) to drive a more inclusive financial system for un- and under-banked small businesses across the country.

The Nevada Battle Born Growth Microloan Program was launched in February and offers simple, affordable loans to small businesses across the state to expand economic opportunity and create a more active secondary market for CDFI lending.

We launched New York Forward Loan Fund 2 in July, which focuses on helping small businesses and nonprofits in low-income and historically underbanked communities across New York. In November, Calvert Impact and the New Jersey Economic Development Authority launched the New Jersey Capital Access Fund to provide small business loans through CDFIs that have decades of experience serving historically under-resourced and underbanked communities throughout the state, including communities of color, women, veterans, and LGBTQIA+ community.

These transformational loan participation programs would not be possible without the partnership and funding from Wells Fargo and the Citi Foundation’s Community Finance Innovation Fund, and we are grateful for our partners at Community Reinvestment Fund, USA and Grow America, among many others, for sharing our vision and working with us on implementation.

Uplifting Small Businesses by Developing Secondary Markets

We released the report, “Small Business Community Finance: Scaling with Integrity,” to share our insights on what can and should be done to allow for broader access to credit and capital for small businesses. This report draws recommendations and lessons learned from Calvert Impact’s participation in the COVID-19 pandemic Recovery Funds, which financed more than 5,500 small businesses, nearly 70% led by women or people of color, through nearly 40 community lenders. It highlights key areas that policy makers, banks, and investors should focus on to further develop a robust community finance capital market, amidst an environment which creates hardship and struggle for small businesses looking grow and become self-sufficient. The report outlines five key areas: addressing gaps in risk perception with smart subsidy; investing in market infrastructure; supporting data collection and analysis; prioritizing home-grown technology; and leaving no community behind. This roadmap can help the sector lead with integrity and support CDFIs in the field.

Read the report, “Small Business Community Finance: Scaling with Integrity."

Formation of Climate United

Calvert Impact partnered with two other national nonprofits Self-Help and the Community Preservation Corporation (CPC) to form a consortium called Climate United, one of the applicants hoping to manage the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s National Clean Investment Fund. As part of our current efforts and in alignment with our goals to finance organizations and communities across the country to stimulate and catalyze on the clean energy transition, Calvert Impact seized on this monumental opportunity to deploy $14 billion in building decarbonization, electric fleet conversion, and the deployment of distributed renewable energy. Our proposal emphasizes the experience of our coalition partners – a network of over 350 implementation, deployment, and community partners – and our unique approach to benefit Justice40, rural, and Tribal communities.

Learn more on Climate United’s website.

Thanks for your support and partnership in 2023

We are excited to continue expanding our impact with your help in 2024. Please sign up for our email updates to stay connected to our work.