Marguerite Casey Foundation is proud to leverage our endowment investments to advance our values, mission, and programmatic priorities by investing up to $50 million in program-related investments (PRIs) over the next 10 years.
MCF’s program-related investments are by invitation only.
PRIs are investments in which the primary goal is to advance our tax-exempt purposes and in which capital return or appreciation is not the main purpose. At MCF, PRIs are intended to reinforce rather than reduce our grantmaking and, as such, are made above and beyond our annual grants budget. Our objective is to achieve the maximum possible impact from our PRI portfolio toward our vision of a country where our government prioritizes the needs of excluded and underrepresented people.
Per our PRI guidelines, MCF provides the following:
Low-cost debt or equity capital to community development financial institutions delivering capital and impacts in our target geographies.
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Catalytic debt or equity capital to innovative social venture or impact funds increasing capital access in historically disinvested communities. (Note: innovative social venture/impact funds are defined as nonprofit or for-profit enterprises that provide meaningful interventions or new models that address the failures of our current economy.)
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Catalytic debt or equity capital to innovative social ventures and nonprofit organizations fostering civic engagement at the grassroots level.
Low-cost working capital loans to diverse impact managers fundraising for their first institutional fund.
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Capital to investment managers adopting racial justice approaches to equity and fixed-income public markets.
Financial guarantees to backstop promising projects and assist organizations in securing capital to launch and sustain mission-aligned projects.
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Below-market debt capital to help organizations
refinance high-cost debt,
acquire goods and services, and/or
explore independent revenue generation to enhance the long-term durability of the organization.
Authentic Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm that brings together a diverse set of founders, subject-matter experts, and organizational leaders to help companies succeed. Authentic Ventures invests in all kinds of people who share its values, but most of its investments are in companies led by women and people of color.
Canary is a mission-driven enterprise contributing to the evolution of the 21st century social safety net. Canary exists to ensure that in times of financial need, individuals can access emergency support with dignity, giving them the peace of mind and confidence to recover quickly. Canary’s software platform makes it easy for organizations to offer an emergency relief fund.
More Perfect Union is a first-of-its-kind, media, education and advocacy journalism organization devoted to telling the stories of the working class and holding corporations accountable. More Perfect Union combines journalistic storytelling with advocacy of national and state progressive policy priorities for the goal of affecting political and social change. More Perfect Union is building a progressive digital communication hub on YouTube, Twitter, TikTok and other social media content distribution channels to attract a large audience of regular working people. Simultaneously, More Perfect Union works with elected officials/influencers and issue advocates to produce videos and other digital content that seeks to accomplish progressive change.
VamosVentures is a venture capital fund which invests in early-stage, tech-enabled companies led by Latinx and diverse founders with compelling products and solutions. Its mission is to empower diverse communities through wealth creation, talent pipelines, building social mobility, and unique tech-driven solutions to challenges persistent in our communities. VamosVentures will focus on several high growth industries that are disproportionately influenced by diverse consumers. Among the fund’s priorities are health and wellness, future of work, consumer packaged goods, and financial technology.
The graphic below outlines how, before authorizing an additional $50 million for PRIs, our foundation committed $10 million to PRIs to build the internal infrastructure for the future expansion of this program. The first investment was made in 2017, one year before MCF introduced mission-related investments into our larger endowment.
We hope our PRIs help nurture a new set of norms in the philanthropic sector—namely, moving the most money possible with the greatest ease to organizations, scholars, and initiatives working to create a vibrant multiracial democracy and a just economy.
