Philanthropist and Giving Pledge signatory MacKenzie Scott has awarded two gifts totaling $17 million in support of affordable housing, climate, and small business financing.

Gifts include $12 million to the Community Investment Guarantee Pool (CIGP), a platform that compiles guarantee commitments from a coalition of mission-minded investors and pools them into one entity to help strengthen local economies. Managed by Locus (formerly Virginia Community Capital Social Enterprises), CIGP has issued guarantees totaling $26 million as of August 2023 across the sectors of climate, affordable housing, and small business financing, enabling more than $70 million in direct investments and anticipating to activate $230 million in total capital.

“With this grant, CIGP aims to further push philanthropy and mission-driven investors to use the strength of their balance sheets to deploy essential capital to rebuild our economies,” said Locus CEO Amir Kirkwood. “This grant comes at a moment of growth and transition for our team as we unify our resources under one streamlined structure that will allow us to create greater impact.”

In addition, a $5 million grant to the Houston Community Land Trust (HCLT) will support affordable housing for the region and efforts to address the city’s ongoing housing crisis. Several pilot programs will utilize typologies outside of the traditional single-family home model to test new options for multi-family affordable rentals, commercial spaces, and homeownership.

“There are over 300 Community Land Trusts (CLT) across the country that use the CLT model for multi-family housing, commercial spaces, farms, and public greens spaces,” said HCLT executive director Ashley Paige Allen. “With this substantial grant, HCLT will be able to expand the use of the CLT model outside of traditional single-family home ownership. We hope these pilot projects will demonstrate the various ways we can address affordable housing. We are excited to partner with several community organizations and housing experts to develop these projects as we continue our commitment to increasing affordable housing throughout the city.”

(Photo credit: Getty Images/simon2579)