News shared with Impact Entrepreneur by Maria Speiser of the MacArthur Foundation

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is enlarging the pool of capital it dedicates to impact investments by 50 percent, from $500 million to $750 million, the foundation announced on October 8. Implementation begins in 2027. Over the coming years, MacArthur plans to put the capital into investments that serve its programs and mission, and to keep building the field of impact investing globally. As investments are repaid, the foundation will redeploy the capital into new ones.

“Expanding our impact investing lets us make more meaningful progress against the challenges facing our world,” said MacArthur Foundation President John Palfrey. He placed impact investments beside the foundation’s charitable giving and its values-aligned endowment portfolios as ways of advancing its mission.

MacArthur says it has committed nearly $1 billion in impact investments since 1983, to approximately 300 organizations around the world working on access to capital, job creation, small business, affordable housing, clean energy, health and education. The photograph that accompanies the announcement shows Deeply Rooted Dance Theater, which has received support through the foundation’s Arts and Culture Loan Fund. The fund gives arts and culture organizations in Chicago access to lines of credit that supplement their grant funding.

Two other commitments accompany the expansion. In September, MacArthur extended its “Set it at Six” pledge, under which its grantmaking and charitable payout stay at 6 percent or more through 2028. Within its endowment, it continues to expand a portfolio of sustainable investments.

“In the years ahead, we look forward to expanding our work and mobilizing greater investment through collaboration with the growing field of foundations, families, and others who deploy their assets across the full continuum of capital,” said Debra Schwartz, MacArthur’s Managing Director for Impact Investments.

Source: MacArthur Foundation. Photo: Deeply Rooted Dance Theater, via the MacArthur Foundation.