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With economic activity constantly challenging our understanding of environmental protection and social justice, dialogue and engagement with corporations has become a critical tool for donors seeking to address their programmatic issues strategically.
In this context, Confluence Philanthropy provides proxy voting services designed for foundations seeking to promote environmental sustainability and social justice through responsible ownership. Their program, Proxy Power, enables foundations to align their position as shareholders with their missions. Proxy Power is a proxy voting solution that leverages expertise on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues from well-established investment professionals on Moxy Vote, a proven platform with a reputation for innovation. Through this partnership, foundations have their proxies voted electronically utilizing recommendations from experts whose approach best matches the foundation's goals. Proxy Power simplifies the voting process and reduces the internal resources your organization needs to actively vote proxies.
Confluence is working with funder networks such as ours to offer briefings, webinars and opportunities for collaboration to foundations interested in and committed to shareholder engagement. Check out their breakfast roundtable at the Investing for Impact conference!
For more information on proxy voting and Proxy Power, please contact Jérôme Tagger.
(April 23, 2012)
(April 23, 2012)
The IRS has proposed nine new examples of PRIs that meet existing IRS requirements for program-related investments. These examples propose to provide further guidance and assurance to private foundations that are looking at the variety of ways in which PRIs can be used to foster social change. Leaffer Law offers this summary of each of the nine examples.
IRS is soliciting comments on these examples continues through July 18, 2012. Please send us your questions or concerns. They will be included in our comments to the IRS. You may also comment directly by visiting regulations.gov.
Once finalized, these examples will be an important resource for foundation leaders and legal counsels. You can see how these new examples complement existing IRS regulations by reading 26 CFR § 53.4944-3 here.
The legal requirements related to PRIs were explored in depth at the pre-conference workshop on Legal Fundamentals at our conference in Seattle on May 8-10. In addition, a new comprehensive legal primer, developed by LinkLaters LLC, in conjunction with TrustLaw, is now available here: Strategies to Maximize Your Philanthropic Capital: A Guide to Program-Related Investments. TrustLaw, Thomson Reuters Foundation, April 2012.
In long-awaited news, the IRS, in a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in the April 19, 2012 Federal Register, issued an additional nine PRI examples to amend its existing program advice contained in the Code of Federal Regulations. The examples are intended to lend guidance to foundations who seek to make PRIs and clarify the existing regulatory environment. No changes in regulation are proposed. The department is soliciting comments from the public on these examples during the next 60 days.
These new examples are the first to be added to the CFR since the IRS first promulgated rules concerning PRIs in 1972. Foundations generally rely on existing
Seattle nonprofit the Technology Access Foundation recently closed a deal on a $12.5 million financing transaction enabling TAF to build a community learning center for its intensive science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) program aimed at lower-income students of color. Part of the package is a $2.9 million bridge loan financed with Enterprise Community Loan Fund, a CDFI, supported by PRI Makers Network member The Seattle Foundation's purchase last year of a $1 million Enterprise Community Impact Note. Among the other funders and supporters are PRI Makers Network member the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, who made a $1 million grant to TAF. You can read the Enterprise press release here, and learn more about Technology Access Foundation and the project here and here. (February 1, 2012)
The Cape Cod Times reported on the success of Boston Community Capital's Stabilizing Urban Neighborhoods (SUN) Initiative. The program works with Massachusetts homeowners who have stable incomes and are facing foreclosure. According to Boston Community Capital, "SUN works with banks and attorneys to stop the eviction process, purchase foreclosed properties at current market values, and resell those properties to their current occupants at a significant discount off the prior mortgage value." The Times reports the average reduction in both principal and monthly payment is 45%, and "to avoid speculators using the program, homeowners must give back half the profit if they make one when they sell the home."
PRI Makers Network member The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation has made PRIs with SUN, and a number of PRI Makers Network members have made PRIs with various Boston Community Capital efforts. Debra Schwartz, their PRI program director, says that "SUN's creation of interlocking agencies to raise the money and carry the mortgages is an innovative approach to tackle a complicated process." Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke has touted the program as "an innovative strategy to prevent occupied homes from becoming vacant and creating a strain on the community." Read the Cape Cod Times story here and learn more about the SUN Initiative here. (April 8, 2012)
PRI Makers Network member The California Endowment announced its second year of investments through a transformational PRI initiative to help advance its Building Healthy Communities strategy. Focusing on innovative approaches to promoting health and wellness, the foundation made six investments totaling $7.5 million. Three PRIs address healthy living through affordable housing, and the other three focus on community health centers. The foundation's press release details each of these innovative investments. (March 21, 2012)
The newly released report, "United States Building Energy Efficiency Retrofits: Market Sizing and Financing Models" by Rockefeller and Deutsche Bank's climate change investment and research business, DB Climate Change Advisors, examines the potential size and social and environmental impact of investment opportunities for upgrading and replacing energy-consuming equipment in U.S. real estate. Read the press release here. (March 27, 2012)
The New Hampshire Community Loan Fund announced that the 54 homeowners at Big W Mobile Home Park in Derry, N.H. two weeks ago became the state's 100th resident-owned manufactured-housing community. Community Loan Fund's ROC-NH program helps residents of manufactured-housing parks come together to buy the land under their houses, providing loans, training, and technical assistance to convert the parks into cooperatives owned and governed by their residents. Not one of the 100 communities established with Community Loan Fund's assistance has failed over the program's 27-year tenure. PRI Makers Network member the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation incubated Community Loan Fund, a community development financial institution (CDFI), in 1983, and a number of foundations, including PRI Makers Network members The F.B. Heron Foundation and Ford Foundation, have made PRIs with Community Loan Fund over the years for this and other of its economic development efforts. (March 21, 2012)
The Prudential Social Investment Fund invested $3 million with PRI Makers Network member The Prudential Foundation to establish the Newark Investment Fund, LLC, an entity solely owned by the foundation, to be a conduit for loan funds to serve the needs of Newark, New Jersey. The effort is a part of the Living Cities Integration Initiative, which focuses on five U.S. cities including Newark. Founded in 1991, Living Cities is an innovative philanthropic collaborative of 22 of the world’s largest foundations and financial institutions. Read Prudential's press release here. (March 21, 2012)
PRI Makers Network partner the CDFI Assessment and Rating System (CARS™) was the focus of an article this month in Nonprofit Quarterly, describing how the system works and its benefits to mission investors and to community development finance institutions (CDFIs) themselves. CARS is the only comprehensive, third-party assessment of a CDFI's impact performance and financial strength and performance. NPQ's Rick Cohen reports that a CARS reviews are "deep analyses that are meant to stand for three years, a 60-page 'deep dive' followed by a third-year desk review." CARS President Paige Chapel notes the CARS ratings are “driving performance among rated institutions...dealing with issues exposing investors to risk.” CARS has issued more than 300 ratings opinions on 70 CDFIs to date. Click here to learn more about CARS, and click here to learn more about discounts CARS offers PRI Makers Network members. (March 20, 2012)