The Calvert Social Investment Foundation in Bethesda, Maryland, has announced the launch of the first nonprofit community investment security of its kind available through an electronic trading platform.

Thanks to Calvert Community Investment Notes, which up until now have only been available in paper form, 2,000 individual and institutional investors have financed more than 100,000 jobs for low-income individuals, 6,000 new or rehabilitated affordable homes, and close to 5,000 nonprofit facilities. By offering the notes electronically, Calvert is providing wider access to a greater number of investors that may have wanted to get involved in community investing but were deterred by the difficulties in entering the marketplace.

"This initiative will make an enormous difference, not only to the nonprofit housing industry, but to the millions of families who dream of living in safe, decent, and affordable homes," said Kevin Smith, senior vice president of finance and administration at the Fannie Mae Foundation, a major underwriter of the research and development behind the new platform. "Addressing systemic barriers that inhibit homeownership opportunities is one of the Fannie Mae Foundation's key priorities, and we commend the Calvert Foundation for its leadership."