IMPACTASSETS 50™
An Annual Showcase of Impact Investment Fund Managers
ImpactAssets 50
An Annual Showcase of Impact Investment Fund Managers
Local Initiatives
Support Corporation
Affordable Housing & Community Development
Place-based impact
Racial equity and justiceFirm Overview
Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) is an S&P ‘AA-’ rated (as of October 2023) not-for-profit and a certified Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI). Since 1979, LISC and affiliates have invested $29.7 billion to redevelop urban neighborhoods and rural communities through investments in affordable housing, health, education, public safety and employment. With residents and partners, LISC forges resilient and inclusive communities of opportunity across America – great places to live, work, visit, do business and raise families. LISC operates through local offices in 37 cities and through a national rural program in 2,400 counties across 49 states. LISC affiliate LISC Fund Management, LLC is a registered investment advisor and manages private equity and real estate funds. At FYE 2022, LISC’s total assets exceeded $1.29 billion with net worth increasing 63% over the past 5 years. LISC is governed by a 20-member Board of Directors and has over 540 staff members.
Years of Operation: 10 years or more
% of Capital from Top 3 Investors: Less than 25%
As an intermediary and convener of public- and private-sector resources, LISC catalyzes opportunity by financing organizations that foster improvement of economic conditions, development of housing and other physical facilities, provision of amenities and services, and other activities to revitalize disinvested communities or serve low- to moderate-wage individuals.
LISC mobilizes corporate, philanthropic and public capital from local and national sources to fund a diverse toolkit of support -- including loans, tax credit equity (through affiliates), grants, training, technical assistance and public policy support -- to improve the quality of life for low-wage people and places. LISC takes a double bottom line approach, promoting social impact while also requiring strong financial performance of its investments. LISC’s community investment model aims to improve conditions in some of America’s disinvested communities while seeking to minimize displacement in places where gentrification has taken hold. Since 2020, we've deployed more than $312 million into racial justice through Project 10X, a $1 billion commitment to invest in equity and wealth for Black, Indigenous and People of Color. LISC embraces activities supporting comprehensive community development, using a place-based model to equip communities to become great places to live, work, visit, do business and raise families.
Supported by its CDFI status, LISC mobilizes public- and private-sector resources within its communities by providing grant funding and technical assistance to its vast network of local partners. Outside of lending and investment activity, LISC has provided training, education and financial support to organizations leading revitalization efforts in their communities. Partnerships include: providing funding to 1,340 community development corporations through U.S. HUD’s Section 4 program; partnering with the U.S. Department of Justice to support over 100 community-law enforcement partnerships; helping build or renovate more than 500 recreation facilities through partnerships with the National Football League Foundation, ESPN and Under Armour; and leading a network of 130 financial opportunity centers to assist over 24,300 people to improve their credit since 2012. Through its affiliate LFM, a registered investment advisor, LISC creates and manages private mission-driven investment funds, both direct investment funds and conduit loan funds in partnership with other CDFIs.
Investment Example
Homeownership is one of the most transformative forms of wealth building a family can have. Affordable homes not only provide safe, stable housing for families, home equity can be used to support new businesses, education costs and generational wealth accumulation. LISC currently has 40 loans in its portfolio that support homeownership, from single-family homes being constructed in California to tenant groups that organize to buy their buildings in Washington, DC. In 2022, LISC provided a $1.9MM line of credit to Invest Newark, a nonprofit based in Newark, NJ that is converting vacant properties into homeownership opportunities for families in Newark Housing Authority’s Section 8 voucher program. In addition to providing rehabilitated homes to BIPOC and low-income residents, the sponsor is committed to hiring local minority- and women-owned contractors and development firms to help support their portfolio growth. LISC’s investment will support the conversion of 25 vacant and abandoned properties.
Leadership and Team
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Michael Pugh – CEO More Info
Michael T. Pugh became CEO of LISC in October 2023. Michael has more than 30 years of experience in banking, with a particular focus on expanding access to capital for underserved families, businesses, and communities. He spent more than a decade at the Harlem-based Carver, leading the nation’s largest publicly traded African American-operated bank, with more than $720 million in assets. Earlier in his career, Michael was a senior vice president at Capital One, N.A., where he oversaw 75 banking centers and $3 billion in deposits in Maryland, Washington, D.C., and Delaware. |
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Constance Max – Executive Vice President More Info
Connie Max currently serves as LISC’s Executive Vice President of Lending. Connie leads the daily operations of the lending division including, originations, closings and asset management of its $425 million portfolio. Connie also supports efforts to raise and deploy special funding sources. Most recently, Connie served as Vice President and Chief Credit Officer for the Nonprofit Finance Fund managing the approval and portfolio management processes. Previously, she served as the Director of Prudential Financial’s Social Investment Division, managing a portfolio of socially motivated investments of debt, equity and tax credits. |
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Christina Travers – Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer More Info
Prior to joining LISC, Christina was the CFO of Working Solutions CDFI, a San Francisco Bay Area microlender. During her time at Working Solutions, she focused on the migration to a single treasury management platform, financial management report creation, debt consolidation, financial forecasting and the implementation of a risk assessment based asset management function. Christina also spent over two years at the Low Income Investment Fund (LIIF) as Vice President for Finance & Capital Strategies. In this role, she served as a liaison and resource for LIIF’s banking and other lending relationships. |
Financial Performance
Impact Performance
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Percentage of Total Assets Under
Management that are Impact Investments: |
100%
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LISC’s loan underwriting and management policies reflect the needs of communities, LISC’s charitable mission and purpose, and LISC’s responsibilities to lenders and investors. LISC has broad experience with loans made to nonprofit organizations, mission-aligned for-profit developers and small businesses engaged in community and economic development projects, and has fostered an underwriting approach tailored to a wide diversity of loan requests. LISC considers how financing businesses, housing and other community infrastructure will catalyze economic, health, safety and educational mobility for individuals and communities. Factors include whether the project will be located in a low- to moderate-wage community, provide goods and services that benefit an underinvested community, provide quality job opportunities to underserved populations, develop partnerships with other community-based organizations and develop needed infrastructure.
LISC’s investment sourcing, due diligence and underwriting processes evaluate and prioritize organizations that incorporate environmental, social and governance considerations into their management processes. Each loan additionally undergoes a formal impact assessment that results in a quantitative score of impact across six dimensions that incorporate social and environmental sustainability factors. These include equal opportunity hiring practices, offering living wages, training programs and advancement opportunities for their employees, and using best management practices to minimize environmental impacts.
Impact Tracking and Monitoring
Learn More
28 Liberty Street, 34th Floor, New York, NY 10005 USA
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