Capital Impact Partners Surpasses $3 Billion in Lending Supporting Disinvested Communities

August 19, 2024 (Arlington, VA/San Diego, CA) – Capital Impact Partners, one of the leading mission-driven nonprofit lenders in the United States, has now deployed more than $3 billion in lending since its founding in 1982 — much-needed financial capital that helps invest in otherwise disinvested communities.

That financial capital supports affordable housing, quality health care and education, cooperative development, healthy food and dignified aging facilities. Capital Impact Partners reached the milestone by financing projects that increase access to these fundamental social services.

Capital Impact Partners was founded at the direction of the United States Congress to support the development of cooperatives in disinvested communities. In the decades since, Capital Impact Partners has broadened the types of projects it supports and has incorporated a place-based strategy, concentrating its work in several geographic focus areas throughout the country.

Capital Impact Partners reached its first $1 billion in lending nearly 25 years after its founding and has rapidly scaled up, surpassing $2 billion in 2014, $2.5 billion in 2018, and $3 billion in 2023.

“Reaching $3 billion in lending is a significant investment. More important than that is what that investment represents — funding that helps open the doors for the opportunities that everyone deserves and supports an economic system that respects and uplifts all peoples’ right to achieve the dreams they have for themselves and their communities,” said Ellis Carr, president and CEO of Capital Impact Partners and CDC Small Business Finance, both of which are part of the Momentus Capital branded family of organizations.

Throughout its 42-year history, Capital Impact Partners’ lending has delivered social impact across these sectors:

• Aging in Community: more than $125 million, supporting older adults with dignified community living
• Cooperative Development: more than $300 million to worker-owned cooperatives
• Education: nearly $1 billion, providing access to education for nearly 3,000 students annually
• Healthy Food: more than $200 million, providing more than 1.1 million people with healthy food options
• Health Care: more than $1 billion, expanding access for nearly 3 million patients
• Affordable Housing: more than $650 million, creating nearly 45,000 units of housing

Of the more than $3 billion in financing from Capital Impact Partners, more than $1.6 billion has been invested in Momentus Capital’s focus regions, supporting communities in Atlanta, Dallas/Fort Worth, Detroit, Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area, and the Washington D.C. region.

And as part of the Momentus Capital branded family of organizations, Capital Impact Partners is poised to do even more in the years to come.

Capital Impact Partners and CDC Small Business Partners, two nationally renowned nonprofits with decades of experience, formally came together under a shared mission and vision in 2021 and launched the Momentus Capital brand in 2022. The family of organizations also includes their affiliates: Momentus Direct Capital, Momentus Securities (a FINRA-member broker/dealer), and Ventures Lending Technologies.

Joining together as Momentus Capital has created an ability to support economic and community development more effectively, and at a larger scale. And it provides clients with access to more resources and products.

For example, in 2023, Momentus Capital deployed more than $531 million in financial capital, which:

• Served 627 small businesses and real estate developers
• Created or preserved 5,700 jobs
• Created or preserved 1,628 affordable housing units
• Funded educational facilities and businesses serving a total of 948 students
• Funded health care facilities and businesses serving a total of 57,807 patients
• Funded healthy food businesses providing an estimated 424,000 people with expanded access to food

Momentus Capital continues to seek innovative ways to drive more financial capital to those who need it. 

That includes launching Momentus Securities, an investment bank with a social purpose, which seeks to break up the logjam between the small business owners and community organizations that need financing, the mission-driven lenders that want to help them, and the institutional investors that seek to support these transactions.

And it also includes raising $171 million through the Equitable Prosperity Fund for impact investments, which differ from traditional debt capital and traditional venture capital by providing entrepreneurs with options beyond traditional debt, and by ensuring that these entrepreneurs maintain control of their companies. Momentus Capital’s impact investments aim to accelerate the growth of companies that are creating positive impact in underestimated communities, including through access to health care and healthy food.

Capital Impact Partners and the Momentus Capital branded family of organizations also recognize that financial capital is not the only way to support entrepreneurs and communities. Knowledge capital (what you know) and social capital (who you know, who knows you) are also important. That is why Capital Impact Partners provides free, extensive training programs for real estate developers throughout the country who are working to bring more affordable housing and other needed developments to disinvested communities.

“I am proud of the continued commitment shown every day by our talented and passionate team. We also did not get here alone — nor will we be moving forward on our own,” Mr. Carr said. “Momentus Capital cannot fulfill its mission without the support of the community leaders and stakeholders who guide us on how best to help; the local and national partners who join alongside us on projects and initiatives; and the organizations and investors who provide us with grants and other key funding that makes all of this possible.”