Our impact continues even after our portfolio partners repay
Calvert Impact invests in sectors and geographies whose needs are not met by traditional capital markets. We work with the organizations who operate within these sectors and geographies to help them grow their operations and establish a positive record of performance, repayment, and returns. With a successful track record, they can prove their business models and ideally attract more capital from traditional capital providers to further scale their work. When organizations in the Community Investment Note® portfolio can go directly to mainstream financiers, this sometimes means they do not need our capital anymore and they “graduate” out of the Community Investment Note® portfolio. We consider this a success!
We have created short case studies, available below, to share insights gleaned from the Community Investment Note portfolio partners’ successes. Scroll below to learn more.
Success Story: Community Reinvestment Fund, USA
Calvert Impact made its first loan to CRF, a community development financial institution based in Minneapolis, in 1997 and continued the lending relationship for nearly 30 years.
Success Story: Forest Resilience Bond
The Yuba I FRB protected 15,000 acres of forestland, helped restore 2,675 acres of ecosystems and 27,601 acre-feet of source water supply, sustained 72 jobs, and returned all investor capital.
Success Story: Aeon
Aeon is an affordable housing developer and manager that operates primarily in the Twin Cities of Minnesota.
Success Story: Eureka Recycling
In 2016, Calvert Impact provided financing to Eureka Recycling, a zero-waste nonprofit based in Minneapolis, Minnesota dedicated to demonstrating that waste is preventable – not inevitable.
Success Story: Community Housing Capital
Community Housing Capital (CHC) is a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) with a mission to finance the creation and preservation of affordable housing across the United States.
Success Story: New Hampshire Community Loan Fund
In 1997, in our second year of lending operations, Calvert Impact made a $150,000 loan to New Hampshire Community Loan Fund, a community lender that transforms New Hampshire communities.
Success Story: Remington Row
Impact investors were critical to Seawall’s growth, helping them build their track record, and create positive outcomes for the Remington Row community in Baltimore, MD.
Success Story: DC Water
In September 2016, the District of Columbia’s water municipality – DC Water – issued the nation’s first Environmental Impact Bond (EIB).
Success Story: Equal Exchange
In 2003, Calvert Impact Capital made its first loan of $200,000 to Equal Exchange, a pioneering Fair Trade cooperative that partners with small-farmer coops and institutions in over 20 countries.
Success Story: Oikocredit
Calvert Impact Capital made our first loan to Oikocredit, a social impact investor and worldwide cooperative, in 1999.
Success Story: MCE Social Capital
In 2006, Calvert Impact Capital made its first loan to MCE Social Capital (MCE), that works to generate economic opportunities for women and families in underserved communities across the globe.
Success Story: BlueHub Capital
In August 1998, Calvert Impact Capital made a $25,000 loan to the BlueHub Loan Fund (then “Boston Community Loan Fund”), managed by BlueHub Capital.
Pioneering new impact management practices
We are promoting Success Stories as an Impact Principles best practice
Capturing lessons learned from the Community Investment Note portfolio is also a critical way that we align our impact management practices with the Operating Principles for Impact Management, specifically Principles 7 (conducting exits considering the effect on sustained impact) and 8 (improving decision making based on lessons learned). For more information on our impact management practice, see our latest Impact Disclosure.
