Shared Interest News

“As Shared Interest’s first investor, Partners for the Common Good continues to invest in the organization because of the catalytic role it continues to play in promoting economic justice for low income people of color in South Africa. We support organizations like Shared Interest because they provide models for others and show what is possible when committed investors work together to facilitate systemic change,” explained Jeannine Jacokes, executive director, Partners for the Common Good (PCG).

The latest loan by PCG for $150,000 is part of a portfolio of approximately $10 million that the organization places on behalf of its investors – primarily religious institutions around the country. Rooted in the corporate responsibility movement of the 1970’s, PCG was created by Christian Brothers Investment Services in 1989 as a series of limited partnership funds: Partners for the Common Good Loan Fund (1989-1994), PCG 2000 (1994-2000).

In the year 2000, PCG was reorganized as an independent tax-exempt non-profit loan fund. Its mission is to promote economic justice and social change by providing access to debt capital to community-based ventures that advance the “common good.” PCG seeks to support innovative organizations and emerging sectors that have high potential to create economic opportunities for low-income people, women, people of color, at-risk populations, and others who are often left out of the economic mainstream. PCG’s borrowers include:

• community-based nonprofit organizations nonprofits engaged in social enterprise or operating social purpose businesses
• mission-oriented enterprises; and
• international development organizations promoting micro-finance and fair trade.

PCG dedicates Eighty percent of its portfolio to borrowers who work domestically, and twenty percent to international organizations with U.S. based affiliates.