Calvert Impact Capital

Calvert Impact Capital (CIC) is a proven market leader in the global impact investing industry, with over $2 billion raised through its unique and accessible fixed-income investment product, the Community Investment Note® (“Note”), which channels high impact investments into communities around the world. Note investors range from institutional, accredited, and retail investors, and Note purchases range from over $20mm to $20 (the minimum through CIC’s online platform). The Note blends financial, social, and environmental returns into one accessible product that offers global exposure to more than 100 countries including the US, as well as exposure across a multitude of sectors. The Note also includes robust reporting on social and environmental impact. Additionally, CIC offers loan syndications, where they originate, structure, and administer loans for institutional and accredited lenders seeking environmental and social impact. To date, CIC has syndicated and/or administered more than $300 million of capital for impact-oriented transactions.

Investment Thesis:

CIC invests to connect capital with the communities that need it most, demonstrating that private capital can be successfully invested in communities often overlooked and underserved by traditional finance in order to provide broad economic opportunity and protect our planet.

Investment Overview:

CIC prioritizes both financial resiliency and lasting impact, and its portfolio strategy is focused on creating more inclusive and accessible markets around the world. CIC helps its borrowers to build, grow, and sustain their portfolios, organizational strength, and impact that they have on the ground. CIC makes investments that create a positive, measurable impact as well as financial return across nine sectors including: small business finance, renewable energy, health, microfinance, sustainable agriculture, education, environmental sustainability, and community development. Each sector has a unique impact thesis and strategy that outlines the impact CIC seeks to affect in that sector, how impact is measured, and what role CIC’s capital plays in strengthening local markets. CIC conducts thorough due diligence on each organization to which it lends, and has rigorous credit quality and social performance standards.

Company Differentiator:

Calvert Impact Capital (CIC) is known for its 25-year track record of innovation, impact, and financial performance. Through the Community Investment Note®, CIC has a diversified portfolio across impact sectors and geographies, creating measurable social and environmental impact, that is managed by a team with deep credit analysis and risk management expertise. Complementing our strong portfolio performance is a capitalization cushion of over $100 million to protect investors against any potential portfolio losses, which has led to 100% repayment with returns to all investors to date. More than 5,400 individual and institutional investors, as well as financial advisors, have conveniently made investments ranging from $20 to $20 million via CIC’s online investment platform or through over 120 brokerage firms. Beyond the Note, CIC provides a syndications service, thought leadership practice, and other investor and industry resources that support moving investment capital toward creating an equitable and sustainable world.

Investment Example

One of our borrowers is Greenline Ventures ("Greenline"), a financial services company that specializes in serving the unmet capital needs of small businesses. Their objectives include job creation and retention, worker training, improving employee benefits, boosting minority and women-owned businesses, and reducing environmental impacts. In December 2016, Greenline launched a $20 million Small Business Capital Fund (SBCF I) to provide affordable loans to underserved small businesses in distressed census tracts throughout the US. SBCF I leverages federal tax credits with mission-driven capital to provide flexible, patient financing to small businesses. After the success of SBCF I, Greenline launched the SBCF II in 2018 with the same goal of creating quality jobs and wealth-building opportunities for low-income populations in under-invested communities. Calvert Impact Capital syndicated both funds and made a larger loan to Greenline's second fund to help them grow their impact. All of our borrowers can be found at calvertimpactcapital.org/portfolio/list.