Gary Community Ventures has been working its local wealth building strategy in Colorado for decades, backing innovative fund managers like Dearfield Fund, Kah Capital Management and Apis & Heritage.
But it’s after it writes the check that Gary really goes to work. For each leg of its strategy, Gary has a public policy agenda to mobilize public capital to scale up proven solutions.
This month, Colorado renters for the first time will be able to earn cash back for rent payments and share in the appreciation of their properties, thanks to Prop 123, a first-in-the-nation program that Gary helped become law.
Last month, ImpactAlpha rounded up 10 ways LPs are going ‘beyond the check’ to support fund managers. LPs providing post-raise portfolio support included Melinda French Gates’ Pivotal Ventures and insurance giant MassMutual. Both are introducing managers to other LPs and using their social capital to elevate their managers’ work, among other strategies.
“We think of our investment as just the beginning of a long-term partnership,” Pivotal’s Erin Harkless Moore tells ImpactAlpha.
Policy levers
The groundwork for the Colorado Renter Rewards program, a so-called “tenant equity vehicle,” was laid by Gary Community Ventures in 2022, when it helped pass Proposition 123, the state’s first comprehensive affordable housing ballot measure. The law earmarked 0.1% of the state’s income tax revenue to affordable housing and set up the tenant equity vehicle, based on a pilot program by Colorado Housing Accelerator Initiative that was funded by Gary. Last month, Fall River Village, a 66-unit building in Estes Park, became the first property to join the tenant equity program.
The initiative, said Gov. Jared Polis, will “create more opportunities for Coloradans to live close to jobs, schools, and in the communities we love while saving money and helping renters build equity.”
It could also benefit managers that Gary has backed, such as Dearfield, a Gary-incubated fund that provides down-payment assistance and shared appreciation to first-time homeowners who have faced systemic barriers; Kah Capital, which buys stressed mortgages and restructures them so people can stay in their homes, and Enterprise Community Partners, a community lender focused on expanding home ownership, economic mobility and racial equity.
Last year, Gary’s advocacy arm helped shepherd the passage of SB 25-167, which will tap profits from Colorado’s $1.7 billion public school permanent fund to support community investments, including downpayment assistance to help educators buy homes in the communities where they work. It also worked to enact last year’s capital gains exemption for employee-owned company conversions in Colorado — a boon to GPs such as Apis & Heritage.
For each of its four ownership themes, “We have something mapping on the policy,” says Gary’s Catherine Toner.
Gary, a foundation-cum-B Corp. founded by Sam and Nancy Gary, is designed to sunset by 2035, transferring all its resources to the community. In addition to its policy support for managers, the place-based investor has also backed the GP Runway Fund, launched by Denver-based Catalyze to make working capital loans to diverse and underrepresented US fund managers.
Blue Haven and other LPs last year stood up Policy-Enhanced Impact Investing, a community of family offices and other impact investors that are leaning into advocacy, lobbying and politics as a key component of portfolio management, an effort to create favorable conditions for achieving beneficial outcomes.
Portfolio management
Post-raise support is especially important for first and second-time managers that are still establishing track records and steady revenue. Pivotal Ventures, a fund of funds and direct investor, seeks longer term relationships with its emerging fund managers.
“We measure our success as LPs in part by how we’re able to add value for next-generation managers, backing them with tangible support, from LP references to communications amplification to connections to our network, advisors and curated events,” says Pivotal’s Moore. “Providing this type of custom portfolio support based on needs, especially in early stages, allows managers to continue to build critical momentum and visibility.
Pivotal provides its first and second time managers with strong LP references and introductions, amplifies their work through its widely followed social media accounts, and spotlights them at a variety of their sponsored industry events.
Last year, for example, it featured GPs Lan Xuezhao of Basis Set Ventures, Rachel Holt of Construct Capital and Julia Huant of Vesey Ventures in a post about VC trends that was shared with the firm’s nearly 120,000 LinkedIn followers.
Pivotal, which invests in solutions advancing social progress for women and young people globally, has also invited portfolio managers to gatherings like the All Raise conference.
Pivotal has backed a growing roster of emerging funds, including impact tech firm Divergent Capital and Magnify Ventures, which invests in solutions focused on family well-being, quality of life, and health.
MassMutual takes a similar approach. The insurer invests in emerging venture managers through its First Fund program and works closely with GPs to build the operational infrastructure needed to attract institutional capital. Among the emerging funds in its portfolio are Supply Change Capital, Vamos Ventures and Jumpstart Nova.
“We spend time with each GP to understand how their operations run and provide feedback and guidance to strengthen the areas that matter most to institutional investors,” says MassMutual’s Akobe Sandy, who runs the program. “This gives GPs a clearer roadmap for growing in a way that supports long-term fundraising and franchise building.”
The firm also supports managers during fundraising by serving as an LP reference and convening a quarterly “LP Power Hour,” which brings limited partners together to discuss trends affecting emerging managers.
