Ralph E. Ogden Foundation, Mountainville, New York
Godeke Consulting developed an impact investing strategy for the Ralph E. Ogden Foundation, a family foundation with interests in arts and culture, community development, education and youth leadership, environmental sustainability, land conservation, agriculture and food, and social justice, human rights and international understanding. During this engagement, Godeke Consulting also led a search for a new investment advisor and worked with the three generations of family board members to develop the qualifications and framework for an investment advisor. The collaboration resulted in a customized RFP to use for interviews and the selecting of the new investment advisor from a diverse range of wealth management firms. Godeke Consulting also worked with the Ogden board to develop an investment beliefs statement in conjunction with their new investment advisor.
Voqal, Boulder, Colorado
Godeke Consulting has also helped Voqal, a collaboration of five nonprofit organizations that work at the intersection of media and technology to advance social equity, to select their new investment advisor. In this investment advisor search, Godeke Consulting partnered with Voqal staff and their investment committee to construct a customized RFP, interviewed candidates and facilitated the investment committee decision-making process and new advisor on-boarding.
Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN) ImpactBase, New York, NY
As part of the GIIN's strategy to bring more impact investing capital to the market, the ImpactBase database which seeks to connect fund managers and investors was created. ImpactBase is a searchable, online database of impact investment funds and products designed for investors. During 2014, Godeke Consulting managed all of the functions of ImpactBase for GIIN including curation of fund profiles, communications with subscribers and fund managers and the technology platform. We increased both the number of funds on ImpactBase as well as subscribers.
New Hampshire Endowment for Health, Concord, NH
Godeke Consulting developed an impact investing strategy for the Ralph E. Ogden Foundation, a family foundation with interests in arts and culture, community development, education and youth leadership, environmental sustainability, land conservation, agriculture and food, and social justice, human rights and international understanding. During this engagement, Godeke Consulting also led a search for a new investment advisor and worked with the three generations of family board members to develop the qualifications and framework for an investment advisor. The collaboration resulted in a customized RFP to use for interviews and the selecting of the new investment advisor from a diverse range of wealth management firms. Godeke Consulting also worked with the Ogden board to develop an investment beliefs statement in conjunction with their new investment advisor.
Voqal, Boulder, Colorado
Godeke Consulting has also helped Voqal, a collaboration of five nonprofit organizations that work at the intersection of media and technology to advance social equity, to select their new investment advisor. In this investment advisor search, Godeke Consulting partnered with Voqal staff and their investment committee to construct a customized RFP, interviewed candidates and facilitated the investment committee decision-making process and new advisor on-boarding.
Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN) ImpactBase, New York, NY
As part of the GIIN's strategy to bring more impact investing capital to the market, the ImpactBase database which seeks to connect fund managers and investors was created. ImpactBase is a searchable, online database of impact investment funds and products designed for investors. During 2014, Godeke Consulting managed all of the functions of ImpactBase for GIIN including curation of fund profiles, communications with subscribers and fund managers and the technology platform. We increased both the number of funds on ImpactBase as well as subscribers.
New Hampshire Endowment for Health, Concord, NH
The
New Hampshire Endowment for Health is a $60 million health-care conversion
foundation that wanted to develop a working capital fund for community-based
health centers in its state. These
centers provide care to a population that is either underinsured or not
insured. Medicaid and/or Medicare
reimbursement from government can take as long as 120 days. Due to current economic conditions,
normal lines of credit (such as local community banks) have become
constrained. As a result, the
foundation put in place a working capital fund that can provide short-term
lines of credit while waiting for slow but earned revenue to arrive. Godeke Consulting worked with the
Endowment for Health to develop a request for proposal and then led the due
diligence and selection of CDFIs to manage the fund. I also worked with the Endowment to structure its
program-related investment into the intermediary.
Robert
Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJ), Princeton, NJ
RWJ’s
mission is to improve the health and health care of all Americans. One of RWJ’s grantees is Playworks, a
nonprofit headquartered in California that improves children’s health and
well-being by increasing opportunities for physical activity during recess in
low-income public schools. Godeke
Consulting worked with RWJ to create a PRI loan guarantee that allowed
Playworks to access working capital financing from OneCalifornia Bank, a CDFI,
to expand nationally. Playworks
required the working capital to pay for its expenses such as hiring prior to
the school year when it receives payment from the school systems it
serves. Playworks currently serves
more than 100,000 students at 250 low-income schools in 15 cities.
Robin
Hood Foundation and F.B. Heron Foundation, New York, NY
Robin
Hood co-invested with other foundations and the City of New York to capitalize
a $32 million guarantee facility which supports the lending activities of the
New York Acquisition Fund. This
Fund’s purpose is to provide pre-development capital to affordable and
low-income housing developers on more favorable and flexible terms than is
currently available in the market, and thus, to expand the developers’ capacity
to assemble parcels for new development and to preserve existing affordable
housing. The Fund is expected to
create or preserve approximately 30,000 units of low-income and affordable
housing over 10 years. The Fund’s
credit enhancement will also encourage private sector lenders to fund loans at
higher debt levels and lower pricing.
Godeke Consulting was engaged by the F.B. Heron Foundation to complete
initial due diligence of its investment in the Fund and continues to work with
Robin Hood and the F.B. Heron Foundation on the ongoing monitoring of their
investments.
Bill
and Melinda Gates Foundation, Seattle, WA
The Gates Foundation’s Education and Investment teams wanted to develop a guarantee structure to support the facility needs of high-performing charter schools. These high performing charter schools had not been able to access the tax-exempt bond market due to the financial crisis and the lack of credit insurance in the market. We were engaged to undertake an extensive due diligence of national CDFIs active in the charter school finance sector to determine the appropriate partners and structures for the program. This $40 million guarantee was the first time that Gates used its endowment to support its program activities.
The Gates Foundation’s Education and Investment teams wanted to develop a guarantee structure to support the facility needs of high-performing charter schools. These high performing charter schools had not been able to access the tax-exempt bond market due to the financial crisis and the lack of credit insurance in the market. We were engaged to undertake an extensive due diligence of national CDFIs active in the charter school finance sector to determine the appropriate partners and structures for the program. This $40 million guarantee was the first time that Gates used its endowment to support its program activities.
