MacArthur Foundation Seeks to Make More Impact in Chicago

John D.和Catherine T. MacArthur基金会最为闻名于其所谓的天才赠款，慷慨的无字符串与艺术家，科学家，活动家和其他创新者的奖学金。该基金会代表城市更新的最新举措可能是自身权利的触感。

This week the MacArthur Foundation announced a new collaboration that aims to raise $100 million for impact investments in Chicago’s low-income inner city communities. Dubbed芝加哥有益，该计划与芝加哥社区信托和Calvert基金会一起推出，将提供Calvert的固定收入证券，以1年和15年的持续时间到投资者。对于社会部门贷款基金异常，甚至可以投资于20美元的零售投资者。提出的资金将用于从低收入住房开发到支持小企业的低收入房屋开发中的一切贷款和投资。

芝加哥受益的一部分inve产生越来越大的影响sting sector, which seeks to use the tools of the capital markets to achieve social and environmental good, as well as to generate financial returns. Investors in the Calvert Foundation notes can expect to make annual returns of anywhere between 1 and 4 percent.

“我们在麦克阿瑟有30年的经验，投资社会部门，”影响64.7亿美元的芝加哥基金会的影响力负责人德布拉·施瓦茨说。在过去，麦克阿瑟的社会部门投资已经走出了课程，或者授予其业务。然而，最近，捐赠的捐赠额为5亿美元的投资组合进行了影响投资。它将使这笔钱通过新的，尚未被命名，麦克阿瑟管理的投资基金工作。

甚至在该车辆中脱离地面之前，基础是通过播种益处芝加哥的第一次承诺，芝加哥5000万美元，或者只要企业持续。它希望通过Calvert Note吸引较短的时间范围内的其他投资者。结果是一种结构，使得几乎任何人都可以成为影响投资者 - 个人可以在网上投资20美元;否则最低承诺是1,000美元。

“The Calvert Foundation’s goal is to make the practice of impact investing as accessible as possible,” says Margot Kane, who heads up strategic planning and fundraising activities for the $300 million, Bethesda, Maryland–based foundation. Calvert, which raises funds for community investing in the U.S. and abroad, is acting as the issuer of the Chicago notes. Kane says she expects the initiative will raise money “from a really broad network of investors, including local and national banks with a Chicago interest or footprint, all the way to local residents or students or people who are from Chicago” but now live elsewhere and want to give back to their hometown.

芝加哥社区信托将投入1500万美元的1500万美元利益芝加哥票据。Macarthur的Schwartz在信托的CEO，Terry Mazany中获得了信赖，在新的社会影响基金的形成中是有用的。“特里·马兹尼真的很致力于寻找如何激发更多慈善事业和该地区各种影响的方法，”她说。该信任创建了捐赠者的资金，并从富裕的个人和其他投资者支持，并利用这些资金将慈善礼物送到这座城市，但马兹兰人热衷于做更多。“这是一个非常重要的先例，即芝加哥社区信任是为700亿美元的捐助者建议市场设定的，”Calvert的Kane说。

The Benefit Chicago model could be replicated in other cities and regions across the country and beyond. Benefit Brooklyn, for example, or Benefit Los Angeles. Perhaps even Benefit Silicon Valley. Like Mazany’s organization, the $6.5 billion Silicon Valley Community Foundation, based in Mountain View, California, is focused on issues of local poverty and operates donor-advised funds. ”We are intrigued with the Benefit Chicago innovation,” says Bert Feuss, who heads up investments for the foundation. “We recognize the potential to replicate and scale by region or impact theme.”

随着各个投资者，基金会和其他参与者的需求增长，城市对城市的影响越来越复杂。3月份纽约市的非营利性生活城市宣布推出其混合催化剂基金，为3100万美元的债务基金测试，以测试为解决社会问题的创新方法。该基金已经为丹佛支付了500,000美元的贷款，以便为旨在解决科罗拉多市的慢性无家可归的社会金融债券的成功。

“Organizations are creating opportunities for all types of investors — individuals, businesses and institutions — to blend their capital to have an impact locally,” says Living Cities’ director of capital innovation, Eileen Neely. The organization launched the new fund, in which the MacArthur Foundation and other pioneering endowments and financial institutions are investors, to “test innovative approaches to solving urban issues that impact economic growth, like income inequality, job creation and small-business development. By investing in local initiatives, we can have an impact on the ground and achieve better results for low-income people in U.S. cities.”

Like social finance bonds, a structure that is being used to raise capital to tackle issues ranging from prisoner recidivism to deforestation in Indonesia, the note structure that MacArthur has devised for Benefit Chicago could be applied to other issues outside of urban development.

“我们需要各种资本来解决社会需求，我们所面临的经济和环境挑战，”施瓦茨（John Nuveen＆Co.）在进入非营利性领域之前，他是一名投资银行家（她Twitter句柄是@impactbanker.）。非营利部门永远无法单独解决这些挑战。越来越多，营利性投资者包括养老金计划andsovereign wealth funds那along with the foundations and high-net-worth individuals who were early movers in the impact investing field, are looking at these sectors. Now, through Benefit Chicago, like-minded retail investors can also play a part.

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