Impact Investing

In 2024, the Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham launched its impact investing initiative, making investments that drive positive change in the counties we serve, and provide a return on investment – of both financial and social impact.

WHAT IS IMPACT INVESTING?

Impact investments are investments made into local companies, organizations, and funds with the intention of generating measurable community benefit alongside financial returns.

Impact investing offers mission-minded investors a way to accelerate projects by providing funding, usually through low-interest loans, to nonprofits. Nonprofits leverage these investments to achieve results in areas such as safe and healthy housing, educational opportunities, equitable access to career training, and more.

HOW ARE PROJECTS CHOSEN? 

The Foundation invests in projects that drive economic opportunity for the communities and residents in our service footprint. Investments are aligned to the Foundation’s mission and strategic priorities, which are informed by ongoing community engagement efforts.

HOW CAN DONORS PARTICIPATE?  

Donors with donor advised funds can co-invest alongside the Foundation with a minimum of $25,000 from their fund. Once investments are repaid, the donor’s fund will be credited with the original investment amount plus interest. Should an investment fail to be repaid, the investment from the donor’s fund will be treated as a charitable grant.

Recent Investments

Titusville Cultural Center

Titusville’s Cultural Center is expanding thanks to a partnership between Opportunity Alabama (OPAL) and Common Thread. The Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham is proud to be a part of this collaboration as part of its first ever Impact Investing – providing OPAL a low-interest loan for the project. The Cultural Center is a six-acre campus owned by Common Thread that provides space for mission-driven entrepreneurs, non-profits, and small businesses as well as workforce training and enrichment for young people. 

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Woodlawn United

Woodlawn United has partnered with a dynamic group of collaborators to build an affordable housing community of eight rental cottages and 12 townhomes on Georgia Road in Woodlawn. The project is made possible through a partnership with the Alabama Housing Finance Authority, the City of Birmingham, the Housing Authority Birmingham District (HABD), and Navigate Affordable Housing Partners and South State Bank. The Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham has also supported this endeavor through a low-interest loan to Woodlawn United for phase one of the project. This loan, offered at a 2 percent interest rate, is one of the Community Foundation’s first-ever impact investments.

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On Aug. 28, 2025, Woodlawn United and partners broke ground on The Cottages on Georgia Road. Located at 200 61st St. S, The Cottages on Georgia Road will provide high-quality, affordable homes designed to support families and strengthen the fabric of the neighborhood.

“This groundbreaking represents more than the start of construction — it’s the beginning of new possibilities for families in Woodlawn. We are deeply grateful to our partners who share our vision of creating thriving, connected communities.” – Mashonda S. Taylor, President & CEO, Woodlawn United.

For more information about co-investing with the Foundation, please contact Liz Edwards. For more information about submitting a potential project for investment, contact Gus Heard-Hughes.

Grant Stories

Giving Together, Growing Together

Each year, the Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham receives an increasing number of applications for our spring and fall grant cycles, and existing funds are never enough to cover all the grants approved. So, in 2008, the Giving Together program was born to accompany the grant cycles.

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How Innovation and Collaboration Can Empower Students in Walker County and Beyond

Hundreds of high school students in Walker County will soon have access to a state-of-the-art facility offering high-quality career and technical education, equipping them with credentials and skills aligned with Alabama’s workforce needs.  

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Community on the Rise is shifting the narrative for women survivors of homelessness

As executive director of Community on the Rise, a nonprofit and social enterprise dedicated to empowering the unhoused in Birmingham, Ala., Avery Rhodes is all too familiar with the perceptions that some people have of women who are experiencing homelessness.

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Libby’s Friends Helps Alabamians with Disabilities Discover New Possibilities

Birmingham-area residents Lane and Kathryn Hagan know firsthand how expensive raising a child with special needs can be. At just 12 days old, while in the NICU, their daughter Libby was mistakenly given an overdose of insulin, causing a catastrophic brain injury that left her with spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy and other health issues. 

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More than a Gym: How YMCA of Greater Birmingham is Transforming Communities

When you enter the Northeast Community YMCA in Roebuck you may be surprised by what you find.  

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Larry Savage’s “Hearts of Wheels” keeps rolling

Larry Savage still remembers his first car. It was a 1974 Mustang that he bought in 1975 for $3,000.

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