By Chris Romano, chief operating officer

At the Bush Foundation, we believe that every dollar we steward should be working toward our mission of inspiring and supporting problem solving to make our region better for everyone. That’s why we’ve embraced impact investing (using our endowment capital to drive positive change while aiming for some financial return) not just as an adjacent tool to grantmaking, but as an integrated part of how we create impact.

Since 2017, we’ve made impact investments supporting affordable homeownership, Native energy sovereignty, small business growth and more. And while we’re still refining our approach, we’re at a point where we can share what’s working, what’s been challenging and what we hope others in philanthropy can take from our experience. We share all of this in our learning paper, Lessons from our impact investing experience.

My background in community-based economic development has helped me understand how mission-centered economic development can support communities wanting to create wealth-building opportunities. Strong economic development strategies help communities build financial stability, increase local ownership and autonomy and drive investment. In many instances, impact investing has played a direct role in building stronger, more resilient communities. It also requires a different mindset than traditional grantmaking. We’ve learned that it’s not just about moving money—it’s about shifting how we think about risk, impact and financial sustainability in the communities we serve.

Like any new strategy, our impact investing work has had its share of challenges. Some investments didn’t work out exactly as planned, while others took longer to gain traction. But one thing has remained clear: access to capital can be transformational for communities that we serve. And we share some great examples in our learning paper.

If you work in philanthropy and are considering impact investing—or refining your current strategy—this paper is for you. We hope it sparks ideas and helps other funders push past traditional risk barriers to invest in ways that are truly transformative. And even if you’re not a funder, we think the broader takeaways about using financial tools to build more equitable, sustainable communities are relevant to anyone interested in economic development.

As we continue refining our impact investing work, we welcome conversation and feedback. This is a growing field, and the more we share and learn from one another, the better we can use our resources to serve our communities.