Inaugural Impact Investments support Local Orgs

These pilot trans­ac­tions mark the launch of a new pro­gram that com­ple­ments the Foundation’s long­stand­ing grant­mak­ing by pro­vid­ing invest­ment cap­i­tal to help non­prof­its build long-term finan­cial resilience — while deliv­er­ing both social and finan­cial returns.

Through part­ner­ships with local and nation­al banks, the Foun­da­tion helped low­er inter­est costs for both 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 the 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. 

“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,” said Lau­rie Andrews, Pres­i­dent, Com­mu­ni­ty Foun­da­tion of Jack­son Hole.

Impact invest­ing emerged from the Foundation’s 2022 Strate­gic Plan to expand the tools avail­able to sup­port non­prof­its. Unlike tra­di­tion­al phil­an­thropy, which involves giv­ing mon­ey away with no expec­ta­tion of return, impact invest­ments recy­cle cap­i­tal, mak­ing it pos­si­ble to sup­port mul­ti­ple orga­ni­za­tions over time while address­ing crit­i­cal com­mu­ni­ty needs. As these Ini­tial Invest­ments are repaid, the funds will go back into the pool avail­able for future oppor­tu­ni­ties across Teton County.

“There are urgent needs in our com­mu­ni­ty that tra­di­tion­al grant­mak­ing alone can’t meet,” said Erin Lusins, Chief Finan­cial Offi­cer, Com­mu­ni­ty Foun­da­tion of Jack­son Hole. ​“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.”