The document summarizes information about the California FreshWorks Fund, a $200 million public-private partnership loan fund intended to finance grocery stores and other fresh food retailers/distributors in underserved California communities. It outlines the fund's target size, intended uses of capital, capitalization sources, expected launch date in April 2011, and contact information for the program administrator and California Endowment working group involved.
1. Due Diligence: Food Systems
TakeAction! Impact Investing Conference
March 15, 2011
Tina N. Castro
Director, Mission Related Investments
2. Impact Investing
at TCE
It is The California Support and further TCE’s Building Healthy Communities work, invest opportunistically across
Endowment’s all asset classes, integrate the mission investing strategy with Building Healthy Communities, the
Mission Investing broader investment strategy of The Endowment, and other departments throughout TCE.
Policy to:
Target Return: At least 3% annualized over the long-term (defined as a full market cycle of three to five years)
while being strategic about how much risk and which types of risk are taken on for a given level
of return.
Asset Allocation: Mission drives the search for investment opportunities thereby possibly creating concentrations in
certain asset classes that can increase the risk of the mission-related investment allocation.
Size: Mission investments will be made of a size and scale that take into consideration both the fixed
costs and resource requirements in making the investment but also the reality that smaller size
investments may be necessary at times to address the needs of Building Healthy Communities.
Liquidity: The mission investment fund will not be a source of liquidity for the Endowment. Therefore,
mission investments may be less liquid if necessary to provide patient capital to meet the needs of
Building Healthy Communities.
Geography: TCE has a strong bias for geographically targeting California and the 14 BHC sites.
Opportunities to invest outside of CA that have a clear and compelling connection will be
considered.
3. The California
FreshWorks Fund
The California FreshWorks Fund is a public-private partnership loan fund intended to finance grocery
stores and other forms of fresh food retail and distribution in underserved communities throughout
CA. It is modeled after the PA Fresh Food Financing Initiative and it has been developed to align
with the National Healthy Food Financing Initiative.
Target Fund $200 million ($97.5M Committed, $30 million
Size: pending approval)
Uses of Capital: Loans & Grants to Grocery Stores & Other Fresh
Food Retailers & Distributors
Capitalization: Debt & Grants
Program Program Guidelines to be released shortly
Eligibility:
Expected April 2011
Launch:
4. Initiative Structure
Lead Investor/ Lead Grantor
Federal HFFI Resources
Co-Investors/ Co-Grantors The California Endowment
Treasury, USDA, & HHS
The California FreshWorks Fund
Applications NCB Capital Impact
Program Administrator
Lending / Grants
Reporting
Developers / Outreach
Food Access Regional Regional
Operators Community Community
Organization Engagement Engagement
Grocery Stores &
other Healthy Food Retailers &
Distributors
5. Contacts
Program Administrator: The California Endowment Working Group:
NCB Capital Impact Tina Castro, Director, Mission-Related Investments
1333 Broadway, Suite 602 213-928-8635
Oakland, CA 94612 tcastro@calendow.org
Contact: Scott Sporte, Managing Director, Marion Standish, Director, Healthy CA
Community Investment Group 510-271-4309
510-496-2233 mstandish@calendow.org
SSporte@ncbcapitalimpact.org
Contact: CHFFI Program Manager TBD Beatriz Solis, Director, Healthy Communities
www.ncbcapitalimpact.org/healthyfoods 213-928-8736
bsolis@calendow.org
Charles Fields, Regional Program Manager, Healthy Communities
213-928-8601
cfields@calendow.org
Judi Larsen, Program Manager, Healthy CA
510-271-4346
jlarsen@calendow.org