Impact Investing

Impact Invest­ing

The goal of the Com­mu­ni­ty Foundation’s Impact Invest­ing pro­gram is to make invest­ments in our com­mu­ni­ty with the intent to gen­er­ate pos­i­tive, mea­sur­able com­mu­ni­ty impact. Impact Invest­ments will com­ple­ment the Foundation’s long­stand­ing grant­mak­ing by pro­vid­ing invest­ment cap­i­tal to help non­prof­its build long-term finan­cial resilience — while deliv­er­ing both social and finan­cial returns.

Key Aspects

  • Recy­clable fund
  • New avenue of sup­port for com­mu­ni­ty non­prof­it part­ners and a new phil­an­thropic vehi­cle for our donors
  • Uti­lize find­ings of Com­mu­ni­ty Oppor­tu­ni­ty Scan con­duct­ed in the Fall of 2024 to tai­lor pro­gram to needs of non­prof­it partners

Ini­tial Investments

Through part­ner­ships with local and nation­al banks, the Com­mu­ni­ty Foun­da­tion helped low­er inter­est costs for two local orga­ni­za­tions, free­ing up mean­ing­ful resources to rein­vest direct­ly in their missions.

  • Coombs Out­doors—a non­prof­it focused on access, equi­ty and men­tor­ship through out­door recre­ation — recent­ly pur­chased a per­ma­nent home for its pro­grams. The Foun­da­tion par­tic­i­pat­ed in a mort­gage refi­nance that will save the orga­ni­za­tion more than $27,000 annu­al­ly. That sav­ings trans­lates into real impact: 12 addi­tion­al stu­dents can now par­tic­i­pate in mul­ti-week pro­grams — adding over 2,000 hours of new pro­gram­ming for local youth each year.
  • His­to­ry Jack­son Hole has com­plet­ed con­struc­tion of its first-ever per­ma­nent home on the his­toric Van Vleck Block in down­town Jack­son, cre­at­ing a per­ma­nent and pub­lic-fac­ing space for exhibits and com­mu­ni­ty pro­gram­ming. The Foun­da­tion part­nered with First Inter­state Bank to reduce inter­est costs on the museum’s con­struc­tion loan — free­ing up over $20,000 per year. These sav­ings will help expand His­to­ry Muse­um camps, engag­ing more than 100 local stu­dents dur­ing sum­mer and school breaks.

Want to Learn More?

As we build off the ini­tial suc­cess of our two pilot trans­ac­tions, we are part­ner­ing with Social Finance to scale our Fund and raise aware­ness of the Program. 

There are sev­er­al avenues through which the com­mu­ni­ty and its mem­bers can become involved.

Cur­rent Com­mu­ni­ty Foun­da­tion Fund­hold­er and/​or Inter­est­ed Investor

Social Finance and staff will host a webi­nar to fur­ther explain the Program’s design and share invest­ment and grant­i­ng options for the week of Sep­tem­ber 15 – 19, 2025. If inter­est­ed in par­tic­i­pat­ing, please com­plete THIS FORM.

Local Non­prof­it Inter­est­ed in Learn­ing More

Lever­ag­ing the 60+ invest­ment ideas gath­ered dur­ing our Com­mu­ni­ty Scan com­plet­ed in the Fall of 2024, our goal is to mod­el the pro­gram to meet the needs of our non­prof­it part­ners. If you are inter­est­ed in learn­ing more, please com­plete THIS FORM.

Local Bank or Finan­cial Inter­me­di­ary Inter­est­ed in Learn­ing About Part­ner­ship Opportunities

If you are a lend­ing insti­tu­tion that is inter­est­ed in learn­ing more about ways to part­ner in future Impact Invest­ment Oppor­tu­ni­ties, please com­plete THIS FORM to receive addi­tion­al information.

Con­tact Erin Lusins, Chief Finance Offi­cer, with ques­tions at elusins@​cfjacksonhole.​org.


  • Morgan Jaouen - Executive Director, History Jackson Hole

    “Thanks to the Community Foundation of Jackson Hole and First Interstate Bank, we were able to reduce debt without reducing impact. Their creative, visionary investment, and the ease and expertise they brought to the process, helped us keep our doors open wide to students, families, and visitors. With this investment we’ll focus on history education and building a more connected and informed community.”

    Testimonials

  • Jenny Wolfrom Holladay - Executive Director, Coombs Outdoors

    “When we faced an increase in the interest rate on the mortgage for the new Coombs Clubhouse, the Community Foundation connected us with resources and partners we wouldn’t have otherwise had access to. Through this support, we were able to refinance our loan, significantly lowering our monthly payments. This has freed up critical funds that can now be directed toward our core youth programs—while also giving us the breathing room to be more strategic as we move into the final stages of our capital campaign.” 

    Testimonials

  • Laurie Andrews - President, Community Foundation of Jackson Hole

    “These first two impact investments are a testament to how innovative funding strategies can strengthen nonprofit resilience—ensuring they not only survive but thrive in service to our community’s evolving needs.”

    Testimonials

  • Erin Lusins - Chief Financial Officer, Community Foundation of Jackson Hole

    “There are urgent needs in our community that traditional grantmaking alone can’t meet. This new impact investing program is designed to offer nonprofits a new pathway of support—combining flexible capital with a commitment to lasting, measurable impact.”

    Testimonials

Webi­nar on Impact Invest­ing for Nonprofits

On Sep­tem­ber 30th, 2024, the Com­mu­ni­ty Foun­da­tion of Jack­son Hole and Impact Finance Cen­ter co-host­ed a webi­nar for non­prof­its to dis­cuss the work we are under­tak­ing and to answer any ques­tions. A record­ing of the webi­nar is avail­able here. Please note that you will need to cre­ate a login to access the recording.

View Webinar Recording