A functioning local capital ecosystem needs investors willing to take risks, be patient, and act responsively with access to capital. LOCUS helps institutions – foundations, hospitals, health care systems – become investors for community prosperity. In our 5-year impact report, we will track our impact on places, institutions, quality of practice, and dollars on the move. And we know there is a lot of work to do to change how our financial system works for places and people in communities across our country ..read more

Last month, we heard from Amir Kirkwood, President and CEO of Virginia Community Capital, about how the roots of impact investing are local. This month, as we celebrate our five-year anniversary, it’s fitting to overlay that idea onto our own organizational journey. The roots of LOCUS Impact Investing are local ..read more

Last year, LOCUS Impact Investing and Indiana Philanthropy Alliance (IPA)—through the IPA GIFT Technical Assistance Program—launched the Indiana Local Impact Investing Accelerator to help four community foundations explore the potential for local impact investments and build the understanding and capacity to invest their endowments in their home communities. Inspired by the success of their peers and desire to do more, five Indiana community foundations have joined a second accelerator cohort ..read more

As more community development intermediaries develop financing programs with a lens of racial equity, many have encountered longstanding barriers. Learn more about how CIGP can be used as a tool for equity ..read more

Deb Markley discusses the Appalachian Ecosystem Journey, a new piece documenting decades of local-led work to build out Central Appalachia's Investment Ecosystem ..read more

This month, LOCUS President Sarah Stremlau shares our takeaways from the past year, highlighting three key lessons learned through the example of our partners. Their efforts show how capital can be a tool to drive equitable prosperity in communities where people live, work, and raise their families ..read more

LOCUS Impact Investing services NIIF’s growing and diverse investment portfolio, enabling them to maintain a lean staff and invest only in the infrastructure they need to scale community impact ..read more

Two years in, CIGP is already proving itself a unique resource for impact that unlocks vital “but for” dollars and catalyzes projects headed by diverse stakeholders. We reflect on the program's early challenges, present successes, and our plans for CIGP going into 2022 ..read more

Impact Investing, especially at the local level, is an evolving field that thrives off of innovative partnerships in pursuit of systemic change. Amir Kirkwood, President and CEO of Virginia Community Capital (VCC), has spent his entire career at the nexus of these kinds of collaborations, from his early days in the banking sector, to his tenure at Opportunity Finance Network (OFN), to his current role as leader of a CDFI. We talk to Amir about his perspective on impact investing and how various stakeholders can come together to allocate capital more effectively ..read more

This month, we are focusing on the ways in which foundations and mission-driven investors cultivate purposeful communities of practice to address challenges – and opportunities – posed by local or place-based impact investing ..read more