Honeycomb held by a Chicago urban bee farmer.
Overview
Launched in 2016, Benefit Chicago is a collaboration between MacArthur, the Chicago Community Trust, and Calvert Impact Capital. It seeks to mobilize $100 million in catalytic capital for nonprofits and social enterprises in Chicago. The goal of this innovative impact investment effort is to create jobs, build wealth, and tackle other social and economic challenges, with a special focus on communities of color and historically marginalized communities.
To facilitate the initiative, MacArthur formed a sole member limited liability company, known as Arc Chicago, LLC. MacArthur contributed an impact investment of $50 million to Arc Chicago, LLC and Calvert Impact Capital provides a line of credit to Arc of $50 million. Calvert raises capital for the loan from the sale of fixed-income notes to a range of investors, including more than $35 million from donor-advised funds sponsored by The Chicago Community Trust.
To date, Arc Chicago, LLC has made over $100 million in investment commitments to support 28 community development financial institutions, nonprofit organizations, social enterprises, affordable housing developers, and initiatives that support entrepreneurs and managers of color.
