Low Income Investment Fund
General Board of Pension and Health Benefits of the United Methodist Church Evanston, IL
The General Board of Pension and Health Benefits is a nonprofit agency of the United Methodist Church that administers retirement, health, and welfare benefit programs for more than 74,000 clergy and lay employees of the church. The largest faith-based pension fund in the United States, the General Board manages and invests more than $16 billion in assets.
For more than a century, the General Board has been committed to stewardship. One way it demonstrates that commitment is through a $1.7 billion investment program that promotes affordable housing, community development, and expanded loan opportunities for low-income communities around the world, all while earning a market rate of return commensurate with risk.
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The General Board makes no direct loans through this investment program. Rather, it works through financial intermediaries that present loan participation opportunities for a variety of community development projects. One of those intermediaries is the Low Income Investment Fund (LIIF) based in San Francisco, California.
Over its 23-year history, LIIF has worked to strengthen communities by providing loans, grants, and technical assistance to community development organizations that serve low-income people and communities. The organization has provided more than $800 million in financing and technical assistance for projects in 26 states, leveraging additional private, public, and philanthropic investments of more than $5.3 billion.
In 1998, the General Board capped its participation in LIIF loans at $5 million. It raised the cap to $25 million in 2003 and then to $75 million in 2006. In late 2007, it raised the cap once again, to $200 million. The expansion of the relationship will allow LIIF to provide much-needed capital to its borrowers.
The relationship has clear benefits for the General Board as well. “We invest in projects that support the Church’s mission to make the world a better place, one community, one block, and sometimes one building at a time,” says David Zellner, the General Board’s chief investment officer. “The opportunities to make investments providing market-rate financial returns while making a positive social impact are among LIIF’s advantages to the General Board.”
