MacArthur's impact investments are complex financial hybrids, said Schwartz. We can have a multiplying and unlocking effect." We look at situations where, but for our capital, all the resources might not come together to get the job done. "The impact investing work we do is in addition to the grantmaking, and is intended to integrate with and enhance and deepen the impact of our grantmaking work," said Schwartz. While Impact Investing is its own department in MacArthur, the financial experts on this team are embedded in each of the foundation's focus areas to identify and create impact investments that align with the foundation's strategic goals. "Within that long-term investment in affordable housing, women are a huge part of the story," said Schwartz. Since 2003, MacArthur has awarded $4.5 million to POAH in grants and program-related investments. POAH is now huge -with nearly 8,500 apartments under its management in more than 70 developments spanning across 9 states and the District of Columbia. Schwartz also talked about helping Preservation of Affordable Housing (POAH) get its start in 2001. Schwartz pointed to two specific groups of women who are often in need of housing support -older women living on fixed incomes, and women who are single parents.īy investing with groups like the National Church Residences and Mercy Housing, Schwartz described how MacArthur created sustainable organizations to do this work. "We've put over $200 million into this area with impact investing," said Schwartz, noting that many of the people who most need affordable rental housing are women. Over the past 15 years, MacArthur has focused impact investing on the preservation and improvement of affordable rental housing. To give the picture of MacArthur's impact investing, Schwartz used the example of MacArthur's groundbreaking work on housing. Schwartz's panel was titled "Setting Impact and Portfolio Objectives: Combining Your Investment and Impact Objectives." She described the conference as providing a forum for a "vibrant and growing segment of the impact investing marketplace -women." Schwartz crossed my radar when I learned that she would be moderating a panel at the High Water Women conference on Impact Investing, a one-day symposium held at CUNY Grad Center in New York where everything from sustainable agriculture to income inequality to successful direct investments were being discussed. Schwartz has been with MacArthur for 20 years and has managed its impact investing for 15 years. Debra Schwartz, MacArthur FoundationWhile impact investing by foundations has lately been a red-hot topic in the philanthrosphere, it's been part of the MacArthur Foundation's work for over 30 years now.Īnd by the looks of things, the foundation is doubling down in this area as it reorganizes operations under its new president, Julia Stasch.īut what does impact investing actually look like on the ground at MacArthur? To get a sense of this, we caught up with Debra Schwartz, managing director for impact investments at the foundation.
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