When it comes to social-impact investing, the private sector can learn a lot from the public one

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When it comes to social-impact investing, the private sector has a lot to learn from the public one, Courtney Robinson writes in the Globe and Mail.

"When it comes to social-impact investing, the opposite is true, the private sector can draw inspiration and learn from the public one," she writes.

In Robinson's case, that public-sector inspiration came in the form of the US House of Representatives, where she served as senior counsel at the Center for Responsible Lending.

That's where she learned that a company's social-impact investments need to serve under-resourced communities with a purpose, a protected, standalone budget, and built-in accountability and governance.

To that end, Block, the tech company formerly known as Square, decided in the fall of 2020 to invest 3% of its cash reserves in community development financial institutions to "overcome barriers to access the economy."

Among the investments the company made: the Black Economic Development Fund, which supports Black-led banks and businesses, and deposits at CDFIs and Minority Depository Institutions to bolster their abilities to lend in underserved communities.

The company also made an investment in the Indigenous Growth Fund, Canada's largest Indigenous social-impact fund.

"We decided to park our earmarked social-impact...

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