Social-impact fund Impact investing went local in Chicago with the April launch of Benefit Chicago, a $100 million-plus collaboration among the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Calvert Foundation and Chicago Community Trust to give investors a local social-impact fund offering area non-profits and social-enterprise companies long-term, low-interest loans.
MacArthur Foundation President Julia Stasch said she hopes the ambitious social impact investing tool will inspire other cities and communities.
“We view this as an idea with universal appeal. MacArthur looks forward to sharing Benefit Chicago's fresh approach with those who may want to replicate it elsewhere and to apply it in other ways so that the social sector benefits more fully from rising interest in impact investing around the world,” Ms. Stasch said in a statement.
The Bethesda, Md.-based $316 million Calvert Foundation committed to issuing $50 million in Chicago-targeted Community Investment Notes.
The $2.3 billion Chicago Community Trust will buy a $15 million, 15-year note, and the $6.5 billion MacArthur Foundation, Chicago, will put in $50 million.
Benefit Chicago creators are hoping that individual and institutional investors will invest another $35 million.
More information is available on the MacArthur Foundation's website, www.macfound.org.
