Social finance initiatives enhance communities.

Social finance is an approach to managing money that delivers a social and economic dividend.

Social finance includes community investing, microlending, and sustainable business and social enterprise lending. Philanthropic grant making and program-related investments also fall under the umbrella of social finance.

These approaches to investment and funding share the focus of stimulating positive social and environmental returns for investors and the larger world.

CDSF is expanding awareness of social finance.

    ... CDSF helped us to examine specific market tools that could be adapted for use by our group.     

— John Melack,
Associate Dean, Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, University of California, Santa Barbara