Impact Investments

Since 1983, we have made impact investments totaling more than $800 million to just under 200 nonprofits, social enterprises, and funds in the United States and globally. This catalytic capital has taken the form of loans, equity, guarantees, and other financial instruments.

We currently manage $500 million allocated for active impact investments. We prioritize the following attributes in our impact investments:

Additionality

We focus on investment opportunities that more conventional investors consider too risky, unprofitable, or novel. We work to bridge financing gaps and enable social and environmental impact that would not otherwise be possible.

Capital Mobilization

We use our capital to achieve impact and unlock investment beyond what we could achieve on our own.

Systemic Impact

We invest in enterprises and funds that pioneer new products or services that address social and environmental challenges, serve overlooked communities, attract new investors, build market infrastructure, and spur useful policy change.

Inclusion

We extend the reach of conventional investing to expand opportunity, drive economic progress, and empower often overlooked communities.

Our approach to impact investing seeks to seed, scale, and sustain impact that otherwise would not be possible. For more on how we believe the fields of philanthropy and impact investing should think about scale, read Keys to Impact at Scale.

MacArthur's longstanding and substantial commitment to impact investing is one of several ways that we seek to invest across a continuum of capital and to align our investments with our mission, values, and programs.

In addition to our impact investments, our team makes grants totaling approximately $5 million annually to support and strengthen the field of impact investing globally and advance diversity, inclusion, and sustainability throughout the investment field.

REPRESENTATIVE IMPACT INVESTMENTS & GRANTS

Impact investing is a powerful catalyst for global progress. Rising engagement among a diverse set of asset owners, managers, and advisors is fueling rapid growth, but access to capital remains a major challenge for enterprises, non-governmental organizations, and funds that are working to build a more just, inclusive, and sustainable world. Worldwide, there is a multi-trillion-dollar shortfall in capital dedicated to addressing social needs, according to the United Nations, dampening progress on poverty, global health, climate change, inequality, and other problems outlined in the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals.

Through our impact investments and grants we aim to:

• Extend the reach and expand the impact of our philanthropic programs by fueling the innovation, growth, and impact of mission-driven enterprises and funds to help build a more just, inclusive, and sustainable world;
• Demonstrate how and when catalytic capital can have the greatest impact across different sectors and communities; and
• Help foundations, institutions, and individuals increase their engagement and effectiveness as impact investors.

We invest catalytic capital to fill significant gaps left by the conventional marketplace and unlock additional capital from other sources for mission-driven intermediaries and enterprises. New impact investments are developed in collaboration with MacArthur program teams and other investors to advance institutional priorities, initiatives, and programs.

Priorities for Impact Investments in support of Foundation Strategies and Programs

• Chicago Commitment: Expand access to flexible, risk-tolerant capital for developers engaged in community-centered real estate projects and creative placemaking efforts.
• Climate Solutions: Accelerate innovation and the deployment of climate solutions in India and the United States, especially within underinvested communities.
• Indigenous Autonomy: Invest in financial intermediaries that build the economic power and cultural independence of Indigenous people.
• Just Home Project: Invest in new housing models that help break the link between housing instability and jail incarceration.
• Local News: Investments to foster strong local news ecosystems that strengthen civic engagement.
• Journalism and Media: Provide financing solutions to film and media production that informs, engages, and activates people through accurate, just, and inclusive narratives.

Priorities for Field Support Grants

• Strengthen the Catalytic Capital Ecosystem: Increase knowledge, awareness, and use of catalytic capital globally through the Catalytic Capital Consortium.
• Build Field Infrastructure: Support impact investor engagement, learning, connection, and collaboration through networks globally.
• Support Impact Integrity and Policy: Strengthen standards, transparency, and accountability, including the practice of impact measurement and management, and inform public policy.
• Advance Equity and Inclusion: Support the advancement of individuals from underinvested communities within the fields of investing and finance.

Our grants and impact investments support traditional nonprofits, for-profit enterprises, special-purpose funds, public agencies, and quasi-governmental entities. Our impact investments often are long-term by design, allowing the recipients of our catalytic capital the opportunity to grow, innovate, evolve, and build lasting sustainability, agility, and resilience. These investments may take the form of debt, equity, or a guarantee and may be structured as a Program-Related Investment or Mission-Related Investment depending on specific investment characteristics and purpose.

Evaluation of our work is a critical tool for informing our decision making, leading to better results and more effective stewardship of resources. We develop customized evaluation designs for each of our programs based on the context, problem, opportunity, and approach to the work. Evaluation is not a one-time event. It is an ongoing process of collecting feedback and using that information to support our grantees and adjust our strategy.

We use external consultants and resources to track the financial, organizational, and programmatic progress of impact investment recipients. We have engaged New Philanthropy Capital as an evaluation and learning partner for our C3 work, and they produced an interim evaluation of the initiative in 2024. 

MacArthur has undertaken evaluations for several other aspects of our impact investing work through the years, including the Window of Opportunity Housing Initiative and a recently completed evaluation of the Arts and Culture Loan Fund.

Findings and analyses from evaluation activities are posted publicly as they become available.

VIEW ALL IMPACT INVESTMENTS EVALUATIONS