The ImpactAssets 50 is a publicly available, searchable resource of impact investment fund managers who deliver social and environmental impact as well as financial returns
March 28, 2023 (Arlington, VA) – For the sixth straight year, Capital Impact Partners has been selected for the ImpactAssets 50 – a free, annual database for impact investors, family offices, corporations, foundations, and institutional investors that features a diversified listing of private capital fund managers delivering social and environmental impact as well as financial returns.
This year, Capital Impact Partners was elevated to ImpactAssets’ Emeritus Impact Managers list, which illuminates impact fund managers that have achieved consistent recognition on the Impact Assets 50. Only 41 of the 163 fund managers on this year’s ImpactAssets 50 have received the Emeritus Impact Managers label.
Capital Impact, a leading mission-driven Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI), began offering its Capital Impact Investment Notes in 2017. The Investment Notes allow retail and institutional investors the opportunity to invest in the organization’s nationwide efforts to create social impact for disinvested communities.
Independent rating recognizes Capital Impact for its financial performance and strong management
March 13, 2023 (Arlington, VA) – Capital Impact Partners, a nonprofit corporation, certified by the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions Fund as a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI), announced today that Fitch Ratings, one the world’s leading providers of independent credit ratings, has assigned an A+ rating with a stable outlook to both Capital Impact and the issuance of up to $275 million of its Capital Impact Investment Notes (Notes). The issuer rating was assigned on August 31, 2022 and the Notes rating was assigned on September 22, 2022.
“These ratings from Fitch are an endorsement of our strong financial performance, our proven track record with impact investing, and our Investment Notes program” said Natalie Gunn, chief financial officer of Capital Impact Partners. Capital Impact Partners is one of the Momentus Capital branded family of organizations, which also includes CDC Small Business Finance and Ventures Lending Technologies, among other organizations.
“We are one of just a select number of mission-driven financial institutions to receive ratings from multiple agencies, which is important as this is one of the tools used by corporate and philanthropic investors when evaluating investment decisions,” said Ellis Carr, president and CEO of Capital Impact Partners. “More important, these investments allow us to invest deeper into underestimated communities and provide the capital and resources they deserve.”
Applications are now being accepted for an additional grant round totaling $400,000
March 10, 2023 (Arlington, VA/Washington, DC) – The Nourish DC Collaborative has announced their second round of grantees in neighborhoods with limited access to grocery stores and other food amenities. The $500,000 in grant funding will help create more opportunities for 13 food businesses owned by people of color in Washington, DC, as well as for the communities they serve, through access to healthier food, economic prosperity, and high-quality jobs.
The Nourish DC Collaborative provides food businesses with grants, technical assistance, and loans — focusing on communities that have experienced systematic underinvestment, poor health outcomes, and limited economic opportunities. Nourish DC was created in 2021 in partnership with DC’s Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development (DMPED), and additional funding for this grant was provided by the Bainum Family Foundation. Capital Impact Partners, a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) headquartered in the DC region, serves as fund manager for the collaborative, which also includes several other local CDFIs and technical assistance providers.
The latest round of grant awards brings the total of grants from the Nourish DC Collaborative to $900,000 since 2021. To date, the collaborative has also provided over $15 million in loans and given technical assistance to more than 200 food businesses.
Grants will support equitable lending products, healthy food initiatives, and supportive housing
MARCH 3, 2023 (Arlington, VA) – The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund) announced this week that Capital Impact Partners was awarded $6.14 million in grants through the fiscal year 2022 round of the CDFI Program.
The CDFI Program awarded a total of $199.4 million to 435 organizations.
These grants will enable Capital Impact Partners to expand its efforts to create new, innovative lending products for emerging developers of color in Dallas, expand support for healthy food businesses in Washington, D.C., and increase supportive housing in the San Francisco Bay Area.
“We are grateful to the CDFI Fund for this substantial support that will be leveraged with our balance sheet capital to significantly expand three critically important financing initiatives,” said Ellis Carr, president and CEO of Capital Impact Partners. “These awards will increase our work to build healthy communities and generational wealth in disinvested communities in Texas, the District of Columbia, and California.”
Mr. Gougis launched the first cohort of Capital Impact Partners’ Equitable Development Initiative in Dallas, helping developers of color with training, mentorship, and pathways to financing that are often unavailable due to systemic racism.
FEBRUARY 27, 2023 (Arlington, VA/San Diego, CA) – Aaron Gougis, the Dallas Initiatives Manager for the Momentus Capital branded family of companies, has been honored by the Dallas Business Journal in the publication’s annual “Leaders in Diversity” awards.
Mr. Gougis received the “Community Champion” award, which recognizes an individual who has gone above and beyond in the promotion of initiatives, resources, or community involvement to advance diversity in the Dallas region.
Mr. Gougis launched the first cohort of Capital Impact Partners’ Equitable Development Initiative in Dallas and then managed the first cohort of the six-month program in 2022. The Equitable Development Initiative helps developers of color with training, mentorship, and pathways to financing that are often unavailable due to systemic racism.
“I’m proud of the work we’ve done to bring the Equitable Development Initiative to Dallas, what the program has already meant for the developers who participated in it, and what it will continue to mean for the community,” said Mr. Gougis. “And I’m excited for what ’s still to come — how we can better support the Dallas area as an organization, to learn about the challenges that community members of color are facing, their goals, and their needs.”
Mr. Carr is part of a prestigious class of honorees recognized on December 8 in Washington, D.C.
DECEMBER 9, 2022 (Arlington, VA/San Diego, CA) – Ellis Carr, the president and CEO of Capital Impact Partners and CDC Small Business Finance — each part of the Momentus Capital branded family of organizations — has been named “Nonprofit Leader of the Year” by the Washington Business Journal.
The Washington Business Journal’s annual CEO of the Year awards highlight top leaders in the area that have demonstrated great innovation, strength and perseverance while also maintaining a commitment to the community.
“I am honored to be recognized on behalf of the important and innovative work that my colleagues do in the Washington Metro area and throughout the country,” said Mr. Carr. “What we do is really about giving someone a fair and equitable opportunity. An opportunity to fulfill their dreams for themselves and their community, an opportunity to build a life for their family, in a community that has the resources they need to thrive. That’s the work that we’re doing here, and that’s our reason for being, and that’s what we should always be striving for.”
Mr. Carr has been the president and CEO of Capital Impact Partners since 2016 and was also named the CEO of CDC Small Business Finance in 2021.
By bringing these companies together with one shared vision and mission, they will be able to achieve much more, and much faster, than they could working as separate entities.
The financial sector can play a greater role in helping build inclusive and equitable communities – by providing people with access to the capital and opportunities they deserve. Under the Momentus Capital umbrella, the family of companies will work holistically, and more deeply, to drive significant change that can help communities achieve the visions they have for themselves. At the center of this work: a focus on racial equity and those who have been overlooked, ignored, or systematically excluded from the current system.
“The biggest shift there is we don’t come in with a prescription of what communities need. We adopt a servant-leader mentality by going in and asking questions, being humble and empathetic and actively listening to support the communities’ visions they have for themselves, not necessarily our view,” Mr. Carr said. “We have built an organization all about listening, understanding, and building partnerships with communities and entrepreneurs that best serve their needs.”
To achieve that shared vision and mission, Momentus Capital is uniquely positioned to provide entrepreneurs and local leaders at every stage of their growth with a continuum of capital and opportunities under one roof. These key resources that address the challenges of — and support the solutions for — underestimated communities include:
Financial capital: a range of flexible debt and equity products to meet Momentus Capital’s partners’ needs, as well as access to new markets and potential investors
Knowledge capital: business advising, assistance, and training to develop the skills and insights that can help partners advance their enterprises
Social capital: connections to networks and people that can help Momentus Capital’s partners succeed
In DC and nationally, Momentus Capital is rethinking its credit parameters and developing new lending, grants, and investing products to create more equitable access to capital for borrowers and projects who have traditionally been denied. Momentus Capital further enhances its lending with programs that solve for systemic issues through training, mentorship and network building. And it works with local, regional and national stakeholders — including community-led groups, government agencies, nonprofits, and businesses.
Among the recent programs and initiatives from the Momentus Capital branded family of companies:
Working with Macy’s, Inc. to deploy $200 million for the retailer’s S.P.U.R. Pathways initiative, a multiyear, multifaceted funding program to advance entrepreneurial growth, close wealth gaps, and shatter systemic barriers faced by diverse-owned and underrepresented businesses.
Activate Detroit, a new loan product that is empowering Black entrepreneurs by focusing on character-based evaluations, rather than credit scores.
Impower, which helps business owners who have been denied for a commercial real estate loan, assisting them with the opportunity to build wealth, create jobs and stay in the communities they serve.
Expanding access to Ventures+, a proprietary loan processing and portfolio management tool that has become one of the top resources for small business and community lenders. This has helped other local lenders create an impact in their communities by providing access to high-level services they would otherwise be unlikely to manage on their own.
Coming Soon! We are developing an investment bank to better connect investors with community organizations through community-centric securities offerings.
Mr. Carr is part of a prestigious class. His fellow honorees at the December 8 event in Washington, D.C., included:
CEO of the Year: Sheila Johnson — Founder and CEO, Salamander Hotels & Resorts; Vice Chairman and Partner, Monumental Sports & Entertainment; President and Managing Partner, Washington Mystics
Lifetime Achievement Award: Bill Marriott — chairman emeritus, Marriott International Inc.
Small Business Leader of the Year: Margarita Womack — CEO, Mas Panadas
C-Suite Leadership Award: Mike King — Chief Growth Officer, Peraton
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Champion: Irma Becerra — President, Marymount University
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Champion: Bo Menkiti — CEO, The Menkiti Group
Nonprofit Leader of the Year (co-winner): Mike Curtin Jr. — CEO, DC Central Kitchen
This is the latest recognition for Momentus Capital in 2022:
Momentus Capital is transforming how capital and investments flow into communities to provide people access to the capital and opportunities they deserve.
Through our family of mission-focused organizations including Capital Impact Partners, CDC Small Business Finance, and Ventures Lending Technologies, we are working to reinvent traditional financial systems that have failed to address systemic issues of inequality, economic empowerment, and the widening racial wealth gap.
We offer a continuum of financial, knowledge, and social capital to help local leaders build inclusive and equitable communities and create generational wealth. This includes a comprehensive package of loan products, impact investment opportunities, training and business advising programs, and technology services that advance locally-led solutions.
Each organization under the Momentus Capital brand will still operate as separate entities, but their clients will now have access to more resources and products.
Leveraging 80 years of combined experience, nearly $3 billion in assets, and strong community engagement, we have delivered $23 billion in financing, created and preserved 250,000 jobs, and served 12,000 small businesses and five million people across their history.
With headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, and San Diego, California, Momentus Capital operates nationally with a focus on larger urban areas and cities in Arizona, California, Michigan, Nevada, New York, Texas, and the Washington metro area.
These investments will help companies grow and create impact in their communities, filling a crucial gap in the CDFI space while taking a different approach than traditional venture capital.
NOVEMBER 16, 2022 (Arlington, VA/San Diego, CA) – The Momentus Capital branded family of companies is proud to launch its Impact Investments line of business to jumpstart growth-stage, for-profit businesses that are creating social impact. These investments will focus on companies with diverse leadership and/or are operating in communities of color.
Many of these companies need something other than traditional debt — so that they can instead concentrate their resources on growing their enterprises. However, those opportunities are often not available. For example, less than 1% of venture capital funding nationally goes to Black founders. And equity investments make up less than 2% of CDFI portfolios in the United States.
“As a mission-focused organization, we provide support in a way that helps owners maintain control over their companies. We work alongside these owners to help them grow — seeking a modest, short-term return while enabling owners to maximize their impact within the community through economic growth and job creation,” said Ellis Carr, president and CEO of CDC Small Business Finance and Capital Impact Partners, each of which is part of the Momentus Capital branded family of organizations.
Momentus Capital is proud to announce that it is working with Macy’s, Inc. on S.P.U.R. Pathways: Shared Purpose, Unlimited Reach — a multiyear, multifaceted funding program to advance entrepreneurial growth, close wealth gaps, and shatter systemic barriers faced by diverse-owned and underrepresented businesses.
This innovative effort advances a longstanding Macy’s, Inc. commitment to underrepresented businesses and aims to galvanize the retail industry to invest in the next generation of entrepreneurs.
It features a comprehensive range of financing options, from growth equity capital to loans for working capital and commercial real estate. Additionally, this effort will provide a full suite of educational resources, fueling a holistic supplier ecosystem and acting as a catalyst for outsized growth.
This award will spur projects that increase access to social services in disinvested communities.
OCTOBER 28, 2022 (Arlington, VA) – Capital Impact Partners has been awarded a $55 million New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) allocation from the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund). These tax credits incentivize private sector investors to partner in community financing efforts.
“This award will help advance our mission to increase access to critical social services in disinvested communities, spur economic development and wealth creation, and create jobs,” said Mindy Christensen, senior vice president of community development real estate for Capital Impact Partners. “We are grateful that the CDFI Fund has again recognized our proven track record of working with communities to uplift their needs and solutions, and working alongside the private investors who help make that possible. It further enhances our ability to provide a continuum of financial, knowledge, and social capital.”
The eighth annual Co-op Innovation Awards supported five organizations’ work in California, Illinois, Minnesota, North Carolina, and Washington, D.C.
September 28, 2022 (Arlington, VA) – Five innovative ideas in five cities have received a combined $170,000 in early-stage grant funding from Capital Impact Partners’ 2022 Co-op Innovation Awards, which aim to increase cooperative development in communities of color and communities living with low incomes.
This year’s awards, issued by Capital Impact Partners and National Cooperative Bank, are funding projects such as enabling Cambodian refugees to have permanent affordable housing; keeping a neighborhood safe so that families and businesses can thrive; creating an online marketplace for street food vendors; teaching skilled laborers how to become upholsterers; and helping a housing cooperative move toward sustainable growth.
These worker, housing, and food co-ops are innovating programs or strategies to offer workers, especially workers of color, an alternative to extractive systems.
“The Co-op Innovation Awards exemplify both a strong tradition and our current mission,” said Ellis Carr, president and CEO of Capital Impact Partners and CDC Small Business Finance, each part of the Momentus Capital branded family of organizations. “Capital Impact Partners was founded 40 years ago out of federal legislation to encourage co-op development, so co-op development is at our core. We have disbursed more than $315 million in lending to cooperative businesses since our inception. Momentus Capital continues to invest in the cooperative movement as we work to help bring equity and social and economic justice for disinvested communities throughout the United States.”
“Since 1978, National Cooperative Bank has had a mission to serve cooperative development and is proud to once again sponsor the Co-op Innovation Awards,” stated Casey Fannon, President and CEO. “The co-op model works in a wide range of sectors, as you can see from this year’s recipients, but what they all have in common is a commitment to improving the lives of their community and members.”
North American Students of Cooperation, Chicago, $35,000
The Industrial Commons, Morgantown, North Carolina, $30,000
Pilsen Housing Cooperative, Chicago, $30,000
Beloved Community Incubator, Washington, D.C., $25,000
Northside Residents Redevelopment Council is being awarded $50,000 to create a state-certified Community Safety Specialist apprenticeship program, formalizing and professionalizing a community-led patrol program that has existed in North Minneapolis for decades. These patrols aim to generate community wealth through cooperative ownership and by cultivating safe, supportive, and economically vibrant neighborhoods where families can thrive.
Apprentices are drawn from the communities they serve and receive extensive classroom instruction before being paired with an experienced mentor, who has patrolled the neighborhood for years, for 2,000 hours of on-the-job training. Apprentices earn $19 per hour plus health benefits and are covered by a union contract. Upon graduation, they become journey-workers and earn $23 per hour.
“Over the last 12 months, young African American men in North Minneapolis have begun to transform their lives and their community through the Community Safety Specialist program. These apprentices have participated in intensive training and mentorship and are now providing culturally competent resources to address the challenges of violence, drug abuse and crime that have plagued their neighborhoods,” said Gayle Smaller, leader of the Community Safety Specialist Program and chair of the Northside Residents Redevelopment Council Public Safety Committee. “These workers, who earn a living wage with good benefits and union membership, now have the resources to pursue the creation of a worker cooperative and become owners in their workplace. Thank you to the Co-op Innovation Awards for your generous support.”
North American Students of Cooperation (NASCO) is being awarded $35,000 to establish a group-equity cooperative for a 209-unit complex in Stockton, California, that primarily houses Cambodian refugees and their families. The complex is owned by the Asian Pacific Self-Development and Residential Association. This project will pilot a scalable model where the Chicago-based NASCO works with tenants’ unions and residents of apartment buildings facing displacement and gentrification to provide training, and give them the tools to buy the properties and own them through the group-equity model.
“This funding will help a community primarily made up of Cambodian immigrants and their families to establish permanent community-controlled, affordable cooperative housing for themselves,” said Brel Hutton-Okpalaeke, director of development services for NASCO. “Directly funding the technical assistance and community training work that will be needed for this project gets this over the hump of being just a good idea to something we can actually do. This grant will allow NASCO to also engage in language justice work, funding the needed translation work for organizers for whom English is not their first language.”
The Industrial Commons is being awarded $30,000 toward a project called Seat at the Table, which takes the need for skilled labor and turns it into a multi-layered business that trains workers to become upholsterers, one of the highest paid jobs in furniture. Seat at the Table’s short-term goal is to create a training program in Morganton, North Carolina, where young people in the community can learn the skill of furniture production while fulfilling contracts for other local furniture companies. The long-term vision is to create a direct-to-consumer furniture manufacturing co-op whose member-owners will come from the training program.
“At The Industrial Commons we launch and scale worker cooperatives, and having flexible startup funds is important for any project we embark on,” said Aaron Dawson, workforce development senior director for The Industrial Commons. “We will use the grant to support a new co-op, Seat at the Table, and a young African-American man from our community, Herron Harper, who will help lead it. This funding couldn’t have come at a better time, as it will give Herron a chance to build his skills, create opportunities for others in our community and serve as the bridge to our sustainable future.”
Pilsen Housing Cooperative (PIHCO) is being awarded $30,000 toward the expansion to its third property, a “generator building” that will help make the co-op’s ongoing growth sustainable. By buying the building via donations, rather than debt, PIHCO can then use the building to help fund subsequent acquisitions and supplement capital improvements across its portfolio.
Through PIHCO, owner families can secure affordable homes in a neighborhood that many consider to be the heart of Mexican Chicago. They earn equity and build wealth, build leadership skills, increase democratic participation in civic life, and take a pragmatic stand against displacement.
“PIHCO provides a realistic option for people that have no other opportunity to purchase and stay in the neighborhood,” said Gabriel Villa, co-founder and Resident of PIHCO. In addition, “It creates another alternative of living and growing together as a community. In this country we’re used to just relying on your immediate family. Now all of a sudden you become part of a collective, and people have your back.”
Beloved Community Incubator is being awarded $25,000 to support the Vendors United Food Cooperative, a group of street food vendors in Washington, D.C. — many of whom have been persecuted by the police and locked out of the mainstream economy. The vendors are starting an online, cooperatively-owned marketplace to sell their food. Building on the success of its pilot program, Beloved Community Incubator will scale Vendors United Food Cooperative, help build the foundation of the cooperative, and strengthen their team, which will result in higher incomes and more democratic control.
“The Co-op Innovation Award will allow Beloved Community incubator to build on our track record of incubating worker cooperatives in the care sector that are owned and led by poor and working class Black and Brown workers, primarily women and femmes,” said Geoff Gilbert, legal and technical assistance director for Beloved Community Incubator. “Investment in the Vendors United Food Cooperative represents a unique opportunity to bring informal economy workers into the solidarity economy ecosystem while DC street vendors continue to fight together to decriminalize street vending and to create a just licensing system in the District.”
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About Momentus Capital
Momentus Capital is transforming how capital and investments flow into communities to provide people access to the capital and opportunities they deserve.
Through our family of mission-driven organizations including Capital Impact Partners, CDC Small Business Finance, and Ventures Lending Technologies, we are working to reinvent traditional financial systems that have failed to address systemic issues of inequality, economic empowerment, and the widening racial wealth gap.
Each organization under the Momentus Capital brand will continue operating as a separate entity committed to serving its key market and clients, albeit with additional resources and product offerings.
We offer a continuum of financial, knowledge, and social capital to help local leaders build inclusive and equitable communities and create generational wealth. This includes a comprehensive package of loan products, impact investment opportunities, training and business advising programs, and technology services that advance locally-led solutions.
Leveraging 80 years of combined experience, a portfolio of nearly $3 billion, and strong community engagement, the family of companies has delivered more than $23 billion in financing, created and preserved 250,000 jobs, and served 12,000 small businesses and five million people across their history.
With headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, and San Diego, California, Momentus Capital operates nationally with a focus on larger urban areas and cities in Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, New York, Texas, and Washington, D.C.
Capital Impact is transforming how capital and investments flow into communities to provide people access to the capital and opportunities they deserve. We work to champion key issues of equity and social and economic justice by deploying mission-driven financing, capacity-building programs, and impact investing opportunities.
Capital Impact is now part of the Momentus Capital family of organizations, including CDC Small Business Finance and Ventures Lending Technologies. Together, we offer a continuum of financial, knowledge, and social capital to help local leaders build inclusive and equitable communities and create generational wealth. This includes a comprehensive package of loan products, impact investment opportunities, training and business advising programs, and technology services that advance locally-led solutions.
A nonprofit Community Development Financial Institution, Capital Impact has disbursed more than $2.5 billion since 1982 to create access to critical social services, grow entrepreneurs, and create quality jobs. Capital Impact’s leadership in delivering financial and social impact has resulted in the organization being rated by S&P Global and recognized by Aeris for its performance.
Headquartered in Arlington, VA, Capital Impact Partners operates nationally, with local teams in Austin, TX, Detroit, MI, New York, NY, and Oakland, CA.
National Cooperative Bank is dedicated to strengthening communities nationwide through the delivery of banking and financial services, complemented by a special focus on cooperative expansion and economic development. NCB provides financial products and services for the nation’s cooperatives, their members, and socially responsible organizations. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the Bank has offices in Alaska, California, New York, Ohio, and Virginia. To learn more, visit www.ncb.coop, National Cooperative Bank on Facebook and Instagram, or on Twitter @natlcoopbank.
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