Our vision is a world where economically underserved communities have the means to support themselves with dignity.
We advance economic empowerment and opportunity by partnering with and strengthening financial institutions to bring capital, create opportunity, and build wealth.
We were created as a vehicle to allow impact-driven investors put their money to work serving communities left out of the economic mainstream. We move our economy forward by financing community development and encouraging community engagement.
Our Story
Our history is rooted in the corporate responsibility movement of the 1970s. Using their corporate investments, religious institutions pressured companies to provide better working conditions or disinvest in Apartheid South Africa. These institutions also aimed to use a portion of their retirement and other investments to encourage access to capital for underserved communities in the United State. Recognizing this growing desire among religious communities, Christian Brothers Investment Services (CBIS) established a series of 5-year limited partnership funds: Partners for the Common Good Loan Fund (PCGLF) (1989-1994) and PCG 2000 (1994-2000) as collaborative vehicles for religious institutions to help the economically underserved.
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Sister Carol Coston, OP
Under the leadership of Sister Carol Coston, O.P., PCG 2000 attracted investments from dozens of religious institutions. In 2001, PCG 2000 was recognized for its leadership and innovation when it was selected to receive a prestigious Presidential Award for Excellence in Microenterprise Development in the category of Program Innovation.
Among the first “community investor” funds, PCGLF and PCG 2000 played pioneering roles in creating a market for community investments and helping other impact investor pools get started.
PCGLF and PCG 2000 were among the first national intermediaries to focus on serving the nascent and emerging Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) industry. Today, many foundations, banks and other impact investors have utilized this blue print and incorporated similar types of community investments into their portfolios. PCGLF and PCG 2000 ended in 1994 and 2000, respectively.
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Partners Today
Religious institutions’ interest in community investing remain strong following the conclusion of the limited partnership funds. As such, CBIS worked with the investors to capitalize and launch an independent 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofit loan fund named Partners for the Common Good (aka Partners or PCG) in 2000. Partners began operations in 2001 and became a membership corporation comprised religious institutions committed to promoting economic justice through community investing. The first three members were CBIS, Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange, and the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia and today there are nine members of the corporation.
In 2023, Partners became a U.S. Department of Treasury certified Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI). In this capacity, we take a leadership role within the community development finance industry by operating as a wholesale participation lender and creating a loan participation network. Our work is pioneering because it creates new tools for mission based lenders to manage liquidity, loan limits, and other balance sheet challenges that stymie the growth and impact capacity of the CDFI industry. Most importantly, Partners' lending work brings more capital to communities that need it most. Since 2001, Partners has provided access to capital to more than 400 borrowers that build communities and create economic opportunity for low income people.
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Partners is proudly Aeris Rated
Aeris Insight launched in 2004 and is a rating service for non-regulated CDFIs. Aeris evaluates financial performance, risk management, and social impact. In 2017, Aeris developed and published a catalog of impact metrics that are commonly used among CDFI loan funds.
Learn more about Aeris ratings at www.aerisinsight.com/about.
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Partners is a certified CDFI
Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) Certification is a designation given by the CDFI Fund to specialized organizations that provide financial services in low-income communities and to people who lack access to financing. CDFIs include regulated institutions such as community development banks and credit unions, and non-regulated institutions like loan and venture capital funds.
Learn more about the CDFI Fund at www.cdfifund.gov/about.