Social Impact Investing

The Cleveland Foundation is the world’s first community foundation and one of the largest today with assets of $2.5 billion and annual grantmaking of more than $100 million. We are also a national leader in social impact investing with plans to allocate $150 million in such capital by 2022. Our program is among the largest community foundation social impact investing initiatives in the country. As such, it stands to influence the market and the practice of social investing in addition to its primary purpose of advancing Northeast Ohio’s economy and our place-based mission. As we accelerate our social impact investing program, it represents a significant moment in our organization’s history and a proud era for community philanthropy.

Catalyzing Meaningful Social Change

The Cleveland Foundation defines social investments as opportunities that align social good with financial return to bring about social change. Our long-term social impact investment objective is to achieve a meaningful impact that benefits the social health of the community and preserves or recycles capital while achieving a positive real return on loans and investments.

Uptown Cleveland

With our social impact investing tools and numerous partnerships, the foundation firmly believes that we must go beyond grantmaking to affect the social change we hope to see locally, nationally, and globally. Typically, our social impact investments focus on green energy, health care, job creation, neighborhood revitalization, social services, technology, and workforce development.

Unlocking Capital for the Greater Good

The Cleveland Foundation has been developing and deploying its social impact investing program for nearly 40 years. Currently, the program utilizes four primary vehicles:

Circle Health Services

RECOVERABLE GRANTS

Recoverable grants are extended to nonprofit organizations and paid back to the Cleveland Foundation without interest over a period of time. Our program areas include: Arts & Culture, Economic & Workforce Development, Education, the Environment, Leadership Development, Neighborhood Revitalization & Engagement, and Youth Development.

PROGRAM RELATED INVESTMENTS (PRIs)

PRIs are below market-rate loans, equity investments, and bank deposits or debt guarantees that the Cleveland Foundation uses to fill capital gaps and address community issues. As regulated by the IRS, PRIs must be made for the primary purpose of accomplishing a charitable outcome and not primarily for financial gain. These outlays can be extended to nonprofit organizations and community development financial institutions.

Playhouse Square

The Cleveland Foundation was the first community foundation in the United States to deploy a PRI in 1982 when it advanced nearly $4 million to purchase the land and buildings that saved Cleveland’s Playhouse Square from demolition and preserved the theater district as the unified whole that it is today: our country’s second-largest performing arts center outside New York City, attracting more than 1 million visitors per year.

MISSION RELATED INVESTMENTS (MRIs)

The Cleveland Foundation supports nonprofits, early-stage private equity and venture capital, “B Corps,” and public or private companies that are aligned with our mission via direct or indirect MRIs. Our MRIs frequently center on job creation, economic development, research, and technology advancements that will provide impact for the community. We also look for environmental and sustainable impact investments, housing development investments, and financing for minority- and women-led and owned companies.

The Trust for Public Land

SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE INVESTMENT (SRI) POOL

Cleveland Foundation donors are invited to participate in our social impact investing program through the SRI pool, which was established in 2002. The pool was custom-built for the foundation and invests in carbon-free stocks screened for social and environmental responsibility, gender diversity, and a place-based emphasis on Cleveland. The pool has more than $40 million in assets and has provided strong financial returns among our array of social impact investing vehicles. Our SRI pool demonstrates that real return and social good are not mutually exclusive.