Virginia-based Cameron Foundation is the latest community foundation to step into mission-driven investing.
Cameron, based in Petersburg, Va., is investing $1 million in Virginia Community Capital, an impact-focused financial institution that operates across the state.
The foundation’s Todd Graham hopes the investment will spur local business and job growth. “The foundation expects to further expand its impact beyond what it can do through traditional grantmaking,” he says.
Three-quarters of Cameron’s capital is being committed through a community note, called a Local Impact Opportunity Note. Cameron has deposited $250,000 into Virginia Community Capital’s bank.
The bank was certified as a benefit corporation earlier this year — the first bank with that distinction in the U.S. Virginia Community Capital launched in 2006 and has invested in close to 500 community projects with an economic impact of $766 million and nearly 5,000 jobs created.
