The Community Investment Guarantee Pool (CIGP) has announced guarantee commitments of $5 million from the California Wellness Foundation and $1 million from the Sierra Club Foundation in support of efforts to address climate change, environmental justice, and health equity.

CIGP facilitates impact investments by providing a one-stop-shop that enables intermediary lenders in the climate, affordable housing, and small business sectors to access highly flexible guarantees. To that end, the guarantee facility leverages philanthropic investments to unlock $5 of capital for every $1 guaranteed in order to catalyze community development investments for climate change solutions and clean energy project financing benefiting Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) and frontline communities.

“This is an emerging area of impact investing and we’re excited about the ways our early investment will act as a catalyst to attract other investors to support climate justice,” said Sierra Club Foundation executive director Dan Chu.

“Through both our grantmaking and our mission-aligned investment strategy, the California Wellness Foundation is committed to advancing health equity by promoting affordable housing and entrepreneurship opportunities,” said California Wellness director of investments Anabel Giron. “Our $5 million investment in CIGP will help us advance our goals in these areas and bring much needed capital to under-resourced communities. We appreciate CIGP’s expertise and capacity to execute on its mission.”

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