Success Story: Humanity United
We collaborated with Humanity United, part of the Omidyar Group, to develop a social impact framework and strategy. This pioneering effort is focused on reducing labor exploitation, human trafficking, and slavery through investments in supply chain solutions. We provided them with a robust set of impact metrics, due diligence tools, and portfolio management recommendations ensuring their […]
May 27, 2017 –
Re-imagining Retail and Creating Quality Jobs
Small businesses are 98% the US retail sector, and more Americans work in retail than in manufacturing or mining. In 2017 Pacific Community Ventures was chosen as one of 15 fellows by the Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program and awarded a grant through the Aspen Institute’s Re-Imagine Retail initiative to develop, pilot, and publish Good […]
May 26, 2017 –
Growing the Impact Advisory Practice
In our history we’ve influenced more than 50,000 impact investors, federal policymakers, foundation leaders, economists, and pension fund investment managers. In 2017 we continued our thought leadership and field building efforts with active roles in working groups and initiatives including: World Economic Forum’s action group on evidence and cases for impact investing; GIIN’s Navigating Impact […]
May 24, 2017 –
Investing in Social Justice
Our programs are also focused on equity and growing community wealth from the ground up. The fastest growing segments of small business owners across America are women and people of color – and they’re far more likely to be turned down for loans or struggle to find mentors. We’re proud to say that in 2017 73% […]
May 23, 2017 –
20 Years Of Investing In Small Business And Big Ideas
Too many people struggle to make ends meet because they haven’t been given a fair chance. In the last 20 years, we’ve impacted the lives of thousands of small business owners who have created and grown tens of thousands of jobs. We invested more than $100 million in quality-job-creating companies and influenced a growing pool of […]
May 22, 2017 –
Success Story: Annie E. Casey Foundation
The Annie E. Casey Foundation, a private foundation dedicated to improving the lives of America’s children and families, engaged Pacific Community Ventures to conduct the first comprehensive third-party evaluation of its Social Investment Program, a $125 million allocation from its endowment dedicated to mission investing. Through the Social Investment Program, the Foundation invests in Community Development Financial […]
May 12, 2016 –
Success Story: Industry-Leading Impact Tools
In 2016, PCV began moving from our efforts at laying the groundwork for impact investing, to creating the tools and frameworks that investors would need to create real, measureable social and environmental good. Our early efforts at this involved partnering with Northern California Community Loan Fund (NCCLF), to develop a tool called the Social Impact Rating […]
May 10, 2016 –
Investing in Small Business and Big Ideas
In 2016 the U.S. unemployment rate dropped below 5% for the first time in ten years, real incomes rose slightly for the first time in decades, and social impact investing finally entered the mainstream. Yet almost half of American workers are stuck in low-wage jobs at places like strip malls and fast food restaurants, the […]
May 09, 2016 –
Our CGI America Commitment to Action
Perhaps you’ve heard of the Clinton Global Initiative America, which convenes global leaders to create and implement innovative solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges. Well, just two weeks ago, PCV joined hosts President Clinton, Secretary Clinton, and Chelsea Clinton in Denver for the CGI America’s meeting. PCV was proud to participate in this two-day event […]
May 12, 2015 –
Impact Investing and Economically-Targeted Investing
There’s almost nothing we’ve been prouder of over the last 20 years than our ability as an organization to create partnerships and build coalitions. In 2015 we turned our eyes to some of the biggest holders of untapped impact capital in America: pension funds. In order to make the case to both fund managers and […]
May 11, 2015 –
The Definition Of a Quality Job
2015 was a turning point on PCV’s focus. As an organization we decided that it wasn’t justifiable to focus on job creation alone, and that we would only focus on creating good-quality jobs. But up until now there hasn’t been one authoritative way of defining a quality job that we, or any CDFI, foundation, investor, […]
May 10, 2015 –
New Leadership, Major Awards
In 2015 we saw the start of a new era at PCV. Over the past years, Pacific Community Ventures’ impact had grown steadily and the organization became poised to scale nationally and internationally. PCV was at an exciting inflection point in 2015 with an effective and proven platform now in place on which the organization […]