About the Practice

We use the full spectrum of capital tools to address the financial barriers that confront communities of color and other underserved communities.

We work alongside our seven program teams to unlock capital for those places and projects that improve equitable outcomes. Our work supports an often under-resourced community-development financial system and includes program-related investments (PRIs) loans, equity investments, strategic deposits, and unfunded guarantees, which reduce risk for other investors.

Social investing at Kresge dates to the financial crisis of 2008. In 2015, Kresge’s Board of Trustees approved a $350 million impact investing pool to be deployed through 2020. A goal to leverage $1 billion from other investors was surpassed in 2019. We seek to partner with banks, other foundations, and government sources, and frequently partner with Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) and mission-aligned intermediaries. We also work with our endowment partners to deploy mission-related investments (MRIs) from Kresge’s corpus.