The Surdna Foundation has announced the launch of an $18 million program-related investment fund that will support the New York City-based foundation's mission of fostering just and sustainable communities across the United States.

The foundation's PRI Fund will augment its discretionary grantmaking with below-market-rate loans or guarantees designed to increase the impact and/or scale of its programmatic work. The fund will also invest in financial intermediaries such as community development financial institutions that work to improve access to capital and other resources for businesses in underserved neighborhoods and communities.

The first investments from the fund include a $700,000 low-interest loan made in partnership with Goldman Sachs' 10,000 Small Businesses initiative to BOC Capital Corp., which will use the funds to capitalize a $3.5 million loan program for minority- and women-owned businesses in New York City's construction industry; and a $750,000 loan to San Francisco-based RSF Social Finance to supply lines of credit and equipment loans that enable food hubs to supply healthy food profitably to new markets and underserved communities.

"We have seen a huge need for debt financing for social enterprises working to connect farmers to institutional buyers, and Surdna’s investment enables us to increase our funding to organizations that would otherwise be turned away," said Taryn Goodman, director of impact investing at RSF.

"Our goal is to extend the impact of Surdna’s grantmaking strategies," said Surdna Foundation president Phillip Henderson. "We know that, in addition to grants, we can help achieve greater impact and collaborate in new ways to accelerate our mission by using market forces to drive social change. Providing funds at below-market rates can be particularly useful when capital is needed to start-up, grow, or sustain a social enterprise, or when results cannot be achieved with grants alone."