Our Journey of Impact
Partners is a national leader in community development finance. Our roots are in the work of Catholic women’s religious orders, which have long been engaged in the corporate social responsibility movement. In the 1970s, these orders were among the leaders of the disinvestment movement that spurred the end of apartheid in South Africa.
That campaign sparked a similar movement in the U.S. of faith-based and socially minded investors devoting their dollars to companies that aligned with their values. Many women’s orders invested in mission-based organizations that promoted access to capital for people and communities neglected by traditional financial services providers. They became some of the earliest investors in a nascent sector of organizations that were the precursors of community development financial institutions.
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Pioneering Community-Investor Funds (1989 - 2000)
Christian Brothers Investment Services, an investment advisory firm formed by and for Catholic institutions, sought to fulfill the intentions of Catholic women’s religious orders seeking to promote economic opportunities in communities that lacked them.
1989 – 1994: CBIS launched Partners for the Common Good Loan Fund as a five-year limited partnership. The fund, led by Sister Carol Coston, O.P. (pictured at right), united dozens of religious investors to support organizations focused on community development in low-income neighborhoods.
1994 – 2000: CBIS organized a second five-year limited partnership, Partners for the Common Good 2000, that represented investments by nearly 100 religious institutions. The fund provided $8.5 million in capital and as it concluded its work received a 2000 Presidential Award for innovation in supporting U.S. microenterprise lenders.
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Becoming a CDFI (2000 - 2003)
Sustained investor interest led CBIS to create a permanent successor fund, Partners for the Common Good, which was incorporated in 2000 and received 501(c)(3) nonprofit status the following year, when it hired Jeannine Jacokes as its chief executive officer. Two years later, Partners converted to a membership corporation with CBIS, the Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange, and the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia as founding members. Today, Partners has 10 faith-based members committed to continuing the legacy of its founders.
Scale and Innovation (2003 - Present)
2000: Partners for the Common Good Inc. is incorporated as an independent nonprofit organization.
2001: Receives 501(c)(3) designation from the Internal Revenue Service; Jeannine Jacokes hired as chief executive officer and operations begin with $2 million of investor commitments.
2001: Partners assists a group of CDFI bankers in organizing the Community Development Bankers Association and begins a management services relationship with CDBA that continues to the present.
2003: Amends governance structure to become a membership organization of religious institutional investors committed to strengthening communities; certified as a community development financial institution by the U.S. Treasury.
2004: Launches a loan-participation product that grows into a national network of more than 70 lending partners.
2010: Receives first Aeris rating.
2012: Launches CapNexus as a networking platform for practitioners to find deals and partners. Adds news-aggregation function and biweekly update on news coverage of the sector.
2015: Launches third-party portfolio management services.
2016: Awarded first New Markets Tax Credit allocation, with subsequent allocations in 2018, 2020, and 2022.
2022: Launches EJP Fund.
2024: Philanthropist Mackenzie Scott awards a $6 million grant.
2025: Marked its biggest year in history, originating $TK million of loans through Partners and the EJP Fund.
Today
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Faith-based Investors
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Lending Partners
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