The Bay Area Community Impact Fund is one of the ways the San Francisco Foundation is maximizing the impact of every dollar we steward. The loan fund provides low-cost capital at rates and repayment schedules that are essential for nonprofit partners to get these high-impact projects off the ground.
As investors in the fund, you make a positive impact immediately through the many projects that are part of the pooled fund and can have capital returned to your donor advised fund to make grants in the future.
Now in its twelfth year, there are nine fully repaid loans, completing a cycle of impact through those projects, and recycling $3.8 million to capitalize other projects and continue to make a difference. As loans are repaid, we invest in new priority projects. Right now, the fund’s capital is focused on efforts related to COVID-19 relief, supporting small businesses, building community wealth, and affordable housing in the Bay Area. These are a few of the repaid loans and what was accomplished with our investment:
Eden Housing was one of the first loans we made. Eden Housing creates and sustains affordable housing in California and has housed over 100,000 people in affordable homes. Eden Housing borrowed $500,000 in a 10-year loan to install solar panels on six of their affordable housing properties. The six properties with solar energy funded by the San Francisco Foundation decreased grid-purchased electricity usage, freeing up cash for critical services to support tenants.
Grameen America fully repaid our $800,000 loan in 2019. This loan enabled the organization to make microloans to women making low incomes in the Bay Area who don’t have access to credit from conventional financial institutions. Over the four-year life of the loan, our investment contributed to Grameen America’s Bay Area lending of $60 million, helping create or retain almost 8,000 jobs.
Community Vision Capital & Consulting (formerly Northern California Community Loan Fund) was one of the foundation’s first program-related investments. We invested $500,000 in the organization in 2010 to capitalize their Bay Area nonprofit lending pool. Community Vision fully repaid their loan on schedule after seven years and given their strong impact and performance, we made a second loan for $1 Million. As Community Vision grew and needed more capital, we increased the loan amount to $2.36 Million in 2020.
We hope you will celebrate this cycle of investments and see the impact these loans have made.
