Community Impact Investing
Available to Private Clients
In 1984, Trillium facilitated our clients’ first community impact investments to a community loan fund that helped low-income residents of a manufactured home park form a cooperative and buy the park from their landlord.
Since then, Trillium has helped our clients make community impact investments domestically and on five continents. These investments are typically directed to domestic and international non-profit loan funds as well as community development banks and credit unions that help provide a flow of capital to historically underserved sectors of society.
Community impact investing provides our clients with the opportunity to support community economic development, revitalization, growth, and sustainability. Many investors choose to allocate a portion of their overall portfolio holdings to this high social impact asset class. Community investments are customized for each client, and can be targeted both geographically and by area of interest. These areas include:
Sustainable Agriculture
Low Income Housing
Job Creation and Retention
Native American Community Development
Financial Services as an Alternative to Predatory Payday Lenders
Community Economic Development
International Development
Environmental Sustainability
Childcare
Trillium helps our clients participate in community impact investing by facilitating selection and administration of investments primarily with two types of vehicles: certificates of deposit and promissory notes.
Federally insured
0.3% to 1.8%
Minimum two-year term
Choice from a variety of community banks/credit unions
Choice of community organization based on geography and/or issue
These investments provide much needed capital to help finance a wide range of products and services, including responsible mortgage financing and re-financing for homeowners, financing for needed community facilities, commercial loans and investments to start or expand small business, loans to rehabilitate rental housing, and financial services needed by low-income households and local businesses. In addition, community development banks, credit unions, and loan funds provide services — such as technical assistance to small businesses and credit counseling — that help ensure that credit is used effectively.
While each investment poses unique risks, promissory notes issued by loan funds and non-profit organizations generally pose special risks by their nature. Typically, they involve an uncollateralized and uninsured promise to pay. The issuer’s only obligation is to repay the principal at maturity with interest payable at stated times. The promissory notes are not securities registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Sample Investments
Below is a list of CD’s and Promissory Notes that are subject to the risks described above. The securities do not represent a complete list nor do they represent a recommendation to buy or sell these investments. It should not be assumed that investments in securities mentioned have been or will be profitable. The information contained herein is not a complete summary or statement of all available data. This piece is for informational purposes and should not be construed as a research report.