Capitalize Good LLC

This week, we’d like to continue introducing our team – today, we’re highlighting our COO Alexandra Sing! Alexandra brings over a decade of diverse finance experience to Capitalize Good, spanning lending, endowment management, and alternative investments. Her journey in impact investing began at Open Road , where she served as an investment officer specializing in bridge loans to social enterprises around the world. Her financial expertise was built during her time as an investment analyst at both the Boston University Investment Office and Forester Capital, LLC. She met Capitalize Good CEO Andrea Levere?while getting her MBA from the Yale School of Management. At Yale, Andrea and Alexandra joined together to write the Blueprint for Enterprise Capital – which served as the foundation for Capitalize Good’s launch. With Alexandra's strategic vision and financial acumen, we’re building a better world through Enterprise Capital! Thank you Alexandra for your leadership. #EnterpriseCapital #Philanthropy #SocialImpact

In a recent conversation with Yale School of Management's Yale Insights about the nonprofit funding crisis, I warned that federal support for community development financial institutions (CDFIs) could be at risk. Friday evening’s executive order targeting the CDFI Fund makes this concern a reality. While the full effects of the order are still being analyzed, I believe funders must begin thinking now about how they can support CDFIs in the face of this uncertainty – so that CDFIs can continue their mission-critical work of providing lower-interest financing for small businesses, affordable housing, and more. My call to action for philanthropy in this moment: Embrace Enterprise Capital – large, upfront injections of unrestricted funding aimed at strengthening nonprofits’ balance sheets. With more capital on hand, CDFIs are able to diversify their funding sources, leverage debt financing, and create revenue streams for long-term stability and growth. As a board member for multiple CDFIs, including ROC USA, Rochdale Capital, and Scale Link, I have seen the transformative power of Enterprise Capital for the sector firsthand. Enterprise Capital can enable CDFIs to not only survive the current crisis, but to build new models and frameworks for supporting communities over the coming decades. Let me also share a best practice of the Social Investment team (Kimberlee Cornett) at the RWJF who now provides a net asset grant to organizations that receive debt financing to ensure the ongoing financial strength of their balance sheets, Funders – if you are interested in incorporating Enterprise Capital into your portfolio, please reach out to me and Alexandra Sing at Capitalize Good LLC to learn how we can support you. Together, we can build financial resilience for CDFIs and the entire nonprofit sector. https://lnkd.in/e8XWE83x #Philanthropy #EnterpriseCapital #CDFIs

Why Enterprise Capital? Our CEO Andrea Levere lays it out in an Inside Philanthropy op-ed, explaining that by strengthening nonprofits’ balance sheets, Enterprise Capital gives nonprofits the full runway they need to scale and engage in ambitious systems change work.? ? As Andrea puts it, "Enterprise Capital is a bet on a nonprofit's future impact and sustainability." ? Have you read this piece? We'd love your thoughts on how Enterprise Capital could transform your organization or grantmaking approach! https://lnkd.in/eH3DnR93 ? #EnterpriseCapital #Philanthropy #NonprofitFunding

Why Enterprise Capital – especially right now? Our CEO Andrea Levere and COO Alexandra Sing joined Ben Mattison at Yale School of Management’s Yale Insights for a deep dive into nonprofit financials, the current funding crisis, and why Enterprise Capital is essential to helping nonprofits survive funding disruptions and build lasting change.? ? As Andrea explained: “Our mission is to scale equity-like funding and to provide aligned financial technical assistance. If we thought this was important before this moment, given what’s happening nationally, we really feel this is an urgent need for philanthropy. We cannot waste time relying on old philanthropic practices to solve current problems.”? Thank you Ben Mattison for highlighting Capitalize Good’s work! Read the full interview: https://lnkd.in/eewTNahY #EnterpriseCapital #Philanthropy #NonprofitFunding

We're excited to launch #FunderFriday, a series where we highlight funders who are building a better world through Enterprise Capital. First up, we're featuring the Howard Gilman Foundation. Through consistent, flexible funding, the Howard Gilman Foundation is creating conditions where the performing arts can truly thrive in New York City. With a focus on dance, music, and theater, the foundation provides over $30 million annually in unrestricted support to arts organizations in the city. The Howard Gilman Foundation’s trust-based, tailored approach to philanthropy sets them apart – recognizing that NYC's diverse arts community can't thrive under the traditional, one-size-fits-all model of philanthropy. The foundation also actively works to improve the long-term fiscal health of its grantees, so that they can do the important work of pursuing their missions. That means, in addition to providing annual general operating support, the foundation focuses on capitalizing grantees by funding debt relief, internal lines of credit, operating reserves, facilities reserves, and more. At Capitalize Good, we help funders implement funding practices like those of the Howard Gilman Foundation to grow their impact through Enterprise Capital. Our partnerships include: - Working with funders to help underwrite and structure Enterprise Capital grants, implement impact-monitoring mechanisms, and provide targeted financial technical assistance services to grantees? - Designing Enterprise Capital funds that aggregate capital from multiple sources to deploy into organizations that would otherwise not receive this type of funding at scale? - Providing workshops and training sessions to help funders align their grants with the true costs of nonprofit work We're thrilled to feature the Howard Gilman Foundation's efforts to create a more equitable, sustainable arts ecosystem in New York City. Learn more about their work: https://lnkd.in/gT9TC4s #Philanthropy #EnterpriseCapital #Nonprofits Anna Campbell, Laura Aden (Packer), Emily Sproch

Over the past several weeks, I’ve had ongoing conversations with my network about what can be done to address the federal government’s sudden and terrible abdication of nonprofit funding. A common thread: The need for philanthropic action is urgent. Today, I want to celebrate the many funders who are responding to this moment by putting their values into practice. For instance, the MacArthur Foundation – a longtime champion of Enterprise Capital and Capitalize Good LLC – has announced that it would increase its payouts by $150 million over the next two years and, in doing so, has sparked a conversation about how funders can increase the size and impact of their giving. Freedom Together Foundation announced that it would double its grantmaking, and Woods Fund Chicago is increasing its payout rate to 14% in 2025 and 15% in 2026. Another staunch supporter of Enterprise Capital, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation President Rich Besser, has eloquently reaffirmed RWJF's commitment to a future where health is no longer a privilege, but a right – increasing investments toward a diverse healthcare workforce by 60% over the next three years. It is also RWJF’s policy to combine a net asset grant with every social investment or PRI they provide to ensure that this investment strengthens the organization. These are just a few examples of funders doing good. At Capitalize Good LLC LLC, we’re encouraging more funders to follow their footsteps and embrace Enterprise Capital, which calls in part for significant injections of liquidity into nonprofits’ balance sheets. With stronger balance sheets, nonprofits can not only weather funding disruptions, but engage in bold, long-term systems change work. Enterprise Capital creates financial resilience that traditional funding approaches cannot provide. While our sector faces difficult roads ahead, I believe we must take time to celebrate good in the world. I’m curious: What examples do you see of funders who are doing good right now? Thank you to @Thalia Beaty at the The Associated Press for continuing to report on how philanthropy is responding to the current crisis: https://lnkd.in/eN7H9wRS Just adding that the Northwest Area Foundation has just announced that they are doubling their funding this year. Thank you Kevin Walker and the outstanding team at the Northwest Area Foundation #EnterpriseCapital #Philanthropy #FundingFreeze

While many of you have been part of Capitalize Good’s journey since the beginning, we're thrilled to welcome some new faces to our community! With that in mind, we’d like to reintroduce our team – starting with our incredible CEO Andrea Levere. Andrea has dedicated her career to reshaping how capital flows into communities, ensuring equitable access to financial resources. She began her work in development finance at the National Development Council (now Grow America (formerly NDC)) before spending 14 years as president of Prosperity Now, a national intermediary focused on wealth inequality. There, she led the growth of the asset-building field, focusing on both policy development and financial sustainability while launching national movements for matched savings for adults and children. Beyond Capitalize Good, Andrea chairs the boards of two community development financial institutions – ROC USA and Rochdale Capital – and serves as vice chair of the board for Scale Link, a nonprofit that has built an innovative secondary market for CDFIs. She was also a member of the Community Advisory Council of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, for which she served as vice chair and chair during her three-year term. With Andrea’s leadership, we’re driving meaningful change in philanthropic funding. Thank you Andrea for your work in advancing Enterprise Capital! #EnterpriseCapital #Philanthropy #SocialImpact

The data is in: MacKenzie Scott's Enterprise Capital approach?to philanthropy?is working! Thank you to the?Center for Effective Philanthropy for this wonderful new report.

When we talk to funders and others in the philanthropy space, a question we often hear is: What is the difference between general operating support and Enterprise Capital? One way to think about the difference is that if a nonprofit were a house: ????? General operating support would pay for ongoing expenses like utilities and maintenance.? ??????????????????????? ???????????????????…whereas… ??? ???? Enterprise Capital pays for the foundation of the house and can also be used for renovation, expansion, repairs, and upgrades. What questions do you have about Enterprise Capital? #EnterpriseCapital #GeneralOperatingSupport #Philanthropy

Capitalize Good was proud to have our COO Alexandra Sing moderate a panel about growth capital and scaling at the Yale Philanthropy Conference. Thank you to everyone who joined us!