New Impact Investing Fund Will Support Nonprofits And Better Health Outcomes

NEW YORK, Dec. 14, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Nonprofit Finance Fund (NFF) today announced a groundbreaking fund to help community providers of health and human services play their crucial role in achieving better health outcomes.

The AIM Healthy fund launches with $13 million, supported by Blue Shield of California Foundation, the California Community Foundation, The California Endowment, Dignity Health, and The Kresge Foundation.

AIM Healthy loans and lines of credit can, for example, help a recuperative-care nonprofit to add beds that provide a bridge between the hospital and permanent housing – combatting homelessness as well as hospital and jail readmissions, or a food-as-medicine nonprofit to partner with a health plan to lower costs and improve outcomes for patients with chronic diseases.

With the country's increasing focus on healthcare quality and cost has come a wider recognition of the role that social determinants of health – such as housing, food security, education, employment – play in the well-being of people and communities. Prioritization of the "Triple Aim" (higher-quality care, with better health outcomes, at a lower cost) is driving changes at both systems and organizational levels, including shifts to value-based payment models, and partnerships between community-based organizations (CBOs) and hospital systems, particularly in low-income communities.

But community nonprofits that provide these critical services – such as supportive-housing providers, after-school programs, elder-care agencies, health centers – need capital to expand programs; pilot new care and payment models; upgrade systems and facilities; hire staff, etc., to be able to orient their programs and partnerships toward better health outcomes.

AIM Healthy is a new resource targeted precisely at this need in California, where health outcomes innovation is happening across the public and nonprofit sectors. AIM Healthy offers customizable facility loans, loans for growth or expansion, bridge loans, lines of credit, and equipment loans to help organizations bridge gaps in their capacity and infrastructure. These loans are investments that ultimately will yield reduced health disparities and improved health and resilience for low-income individuals and communities. NFF will work with each borrower to develop and track measurable objectives.

Along with the AIM Healthy capital pool, NFF will offer financial management advice and consulting to select borrowers, and will capture and disseminate learnings about how flexible loan capital can help community organizations to expand health services.

"AIM Healthy builds on NFF's three decades of work in nonprofit finance, applying tried and true product and sector knowledge to frontier work at the intersection of health and human services," said Norah McVeigh, Managing Director of Financing at NFF.

"Nonprofits have a critical role to play in advancing better health outcomes in America's underserved communities," said Antony Bugg-Levine, CEO of NFF. "NFF is proud to invest in and partner with organizations that are dedicated to advancing the social, as well as the clinical, determinants of health."

Interested borrowers and investors can learn more by emailing [email protected]. Visit nff.org to learn more about NFF and our work toward better outcomes in health and beyond.

About NFF
Nonprofit Finance Fund® (NFF®) advances missions and social progress in underserved communities through financing, consulting, partnerships, and knowledge-sharing that empower leaders, organizations, and ideas. A leading Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI), NFF currently manages over $310 million. Since 1980, we have provided almost $700 million in financing and access to additional capital in support of over $2.3 billion in projects for thousands of organizations nationwide. www.nff.org

About Blue Shield of California Foundation
Blue Shield of California Foundation believes that it's possible to improve the lives of all Californians. Every day, the Foundation collaborates with forward-thinking partners who are committed to seeking out the best, most innovative solutions that advance everyone's well-being—especially our most vulnerable neighbors. Since 2002, the Foundation has awarded more than $400 million in support of its mission.

About the California Community Foundation
For more than 100 years, the California Community Foundation has worked to transform generosity into impact to realize a stronger, healthier and more prosperous future for all Los Angeles County residents. We have served as a public, charitable institution since 1915, empowering generations of dedicated donors to pursue their personal passions and improve the quality of life in their communities. CCF stewards nearly $1.6 billion in assets and manages more than 1,600 charitable foundations, funds and legacies.

About The California Endowment
The California Endowment, a private, statewide health foundation, was established in 1996 to expand access to affordable, quality health care for underserved individuals and communities, and to promote fundamental improvements in the health status of all Californians. The Endowment challenges the conventional wisdom that medical settings and individual choices are solely responsible for people's health. The Endowment believes that health happens in neighborhoods, schools, and with prevention. For more information, visit The Endowment's website at www.calendow.org

About Dignity Health
Dignity Health, one of the nation's largest health care systems, is a 22-state network of more than 9,000 physicians, 63,000 employees, and 400 care centers, including hospitals, urgent and occupational care, imaging and surgery centers, home health, and primary care clinics. Headquartered in San Francisco, Dignity Health is dedicated to providing compassionate, high-quality, and affordable patient-centered care with special attention to the poor and underserved. In FY17, Dignity Health provided $2.6 billion in charitable care and community services. For more information, please visit our website at www.dignityhealth.org. You can also follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

About The Kresge Foundation
The Kresge Foundation is a $3.5 billion private, national foundation that works to expand opportunities in America's cities through grantmaking and social investing in arts and culture, education, environment, health, human services, and community development in Detroit. In 2016, the Board of Trustees approved 474 grants totaling $141.5 million, and made 14 social investment commitments totaling $50.8 million. For more information, visit kresge.org.

Media Contact: Tricia McKenna, [email protected], 617-553-8020

SOURCE Nonprofit Finance Fund

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