Green Strategies to Fight Poverty via Calvert Foundation CIN
Loan
Raises funds for Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) in both the US and around the world
For millions of disadvantaged people in the U.S. and internationally, the door to financial opportunity is closed. Since 1995, Calvert Foundation has been working to open that door and let people in. Calvert Foundation is a nonprofit that has pioneered a new type of investing through our Community Investment Note that delivers a social and financial return. We make it possible for everyday people to invest in organizations around the world that empower people living in low-income communities.
The Note was the first retail impact investment with a global reach available to non-accredited investors, and through our new Women INvesting in Women INitiative (WIN-WIN), Calvert Foundation is the first organization to offer a retail impact investment product with a gender lens. We believe in giving a hand-up and enabling people to lift themselves out of poverty.
Summary
“Green Strategies to Fight Poverty” allows you to invest in both financial AND environmental sustainability. This initiative funds projects in green housing, renewable energy, water, conservation, transit-oriented development, green jobs, carbon credit, and slow food.
Social Impact
The Green Strategy initiative will provide loans to entrepreneurs, small businesses, and nonprofit organizations that are creating solutions to some of the world's toughest environmental challenges. Projects include financing for green businesses, sustainable farming and organic agriculture (such as fair trade coffee cooperatives), renewable energy, and affordable "green" housing.
As of April 2012, 3 years after the launch of Green Strategies to Fight Poverty, the initiative had raised over $6.5 million from more than 200 investors. This money is being put to use by organizations working to provide a bright future for the environment and communities around the world.
Impact Example
In Honduras, hard work pays off for farmer Don Cheyo. "In times like this, I wake up at night every three hours to move my sprinkler because I only have one." With the help of Sustainable Harvest International (SHI), Cheyo has invested his earnings into more land and diversifying his crops, including establishing a coffee plant nursery with organic fertilizer. His wife now cooks their meals over a closed stove that doesn't fill the house with smoke and uses less fuel, improving her health and reducing the time they must spend gathering firewood.
Since 1997, Sustainable Harvest International (SHI) has worked with families in rural farming communities in Belize, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama to improve both the economic and ecological lot of people and communities. SHI local Field Trainers provide on-the-ground support (currently working with 877 families in 100 communities), including seeds and training to help families establish organic gardens, and installing wood-conserving stoves that don’t fill homes with dangerous cooking smoke.
As SHI Extension Agent Juan Carlos says, "One of SHI's biggest dreams is to have 100 Don Cheyos in each community… I've learned a lot from his wisdom."
