20 Years of Community Investing
Our towns and neighborhoods need more than just jobs, they need good jobs, local businesses, and investments that sustain healthy working families and strengthen our neighborhoods and home towns.
Pacific Community Ventures was one of America’s first double-bottom-line investors, insisting that you could invest in businesses in lower-income neighborhoods to generate positive social and environmental impact while also making a financial return. Over the last two decades we helped shepherd the growing impact investing movement, launching the Impact Investing Policy Collaborative, advising the GIIN on the first and subsequent sets of IRIS impact metrics, and in providing research support to the U.S. National Advisory Board on Impact Investing, the G8 Social Impact Investment Task Force, and the White House Impact Economy Summit.
Since our start, we’ve helped thousands of the small businesses who are the heartbeat and character of their communities grow and create tens of thousands of jobs in neighborhoods that need them most while working with dozens of community investors to use their dollars to shake up the status quo and re-shape investment markets and policies to better serve working families, our environment, and our local communities.
Investing in Small Business and Big Ideas
1998
Silicon Valley Community Ventures
Our founders connected the dots: small businesses are the engine of job creation in America, the heartbeat and character of our communities — but too many of them fail because they can’t access the resources they need to succeed. We were founded as Silicon Valley Community Ventures — an innovation..Read More
1999
Fueling Community Economic Development One Business at a Time
In 1999 we moved from the startup phase of our social enterprise to investing equity in 6 companies across the South Bay who were committed to creating good jobs, and launching networking and advising services. So much has changed in the last 20 years, and yet so much is painfully the..Read More
2000
Success Story: Timbuk2
Timbuk2 Designs is a manufacturer of custom configured sewn goods headquartered in San Francisco. Founded in 1989 by Rob Honeycutt, a former bike messenger, the company launched its initial product – customized messenger bags – for the retail and wholesale market in 1996. Since its founding, Timbuk2 has grown from..Read More
2001
Building Bridges to Bay Area Communities
In 2001, Silicon Valley Community Ventures was hailed as a leader in the small but growing field of community development venture capital. During this time we expanded our local Business Advising program to include Business Roundtables, CEO leadership training, job placement assistance, and legal assistance (with partners Fenwick and West and..Read More
Success Story: Niman Ranch
Founded over 35 years ago, Niman Ranch is a leading producer and marketer of fine quality beef, lamb, and pork. The Company raises its stock following a strict code of ecological and husbandry principles and also supports small family farms using the same practices. Niman Ranch has established a packing..Read More
2002
Pacific Community Ventures is Born
After planing our roots in Silicon Valley, our organization’s rapid growth from a local nonprofit community investor to a statewide organization meant that our name needed match our expansive work. Our portfolio has grown to 19 loan and equity companies, and 43 advised companies. Starting in 2002, PCV was one of the..Read More
2003
Investing for Change
2003 was a particularly exciting and active year at Pacific Community Ventures. We deployed $4 million to four growing companies. One of these investments was in our first Southern California portfolio business. Located near Los Angeles, Radiovisa is a producer and national syndicator of Spanish language radio programs and services..Read More
2004
Power and Potential
2004 was a growth year for Pacific Community Ventures marked by expansion of our services and investments throughout California. Over the past six years, Pacific Community Ventures had seen powerful results from its unique model for community development that utilizes the tools of business for social change. Our two private..Read More
2005
Expanding Social Returns
As Pacific Community Ventures grew its investments in businesses across California, we also saw that California’s economy was rocky. In 2005, fewer than half of the jobs in California provided full-time, year-round wages sufficient to support an adequate standard of living. With unemployment, underemployment, and poverty increasingly concentrated in pockets..Read More
Success Story: Heath Ceramics
In 2005, Pacific Community Ventures began working with Heath Ceramics. Today, Heath Ceramics stands as a model for bold growth amid the most challenging economy in a generation. From 2005 to 2009, the company has expanded from a staff of 24 to 84 in seven years, tripled employee profit sharing in..Read More
2006
Human, Financial, and Intellectual Capital for California
Pacific Community Ventures is a one-of-a-kind organization. We fuel economic growth in lower-income California communities by investing financial and human capital in small businesses. In 2006, our innovative approach led University of California faculty to vote Pacific Community Ventures (PCV) as one of the twenty-five most brilliant ideas in California..Read More
The Formation of “InSight” at Pacific Community Ventures
In 2006, other organizations began to see the value in our efforts to do in-depth social and environmental impact measurement. CalPERS recognized our groundbreaking work in measuring the social return of our portfolio and elected PCV as their first independent consultant to evaluate the community impacts of their portfolio. That..Read More
2007
Innovate, Act, Accomplish
In the time before The Affordable Care Act, PCV and other organizations like ours were trying to find new and innovative ways to get workers at small and independent businesses access to health insurance, or more affordable ways to access healthcare. In 2007 we launched a new initiative under our..Read More
Success Story: Equator Coffee
In 2015 we sent a major congratulations to Helen Russell and Brooke McDonnell of Equator Coffees And Teas. They were selected as the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Small Business Persons of the Year for California. That was the first time in the SBA’s 63-year history that they selected lesbian, gay,..Read More
2008
Creating Opportunity
10 years in! At this point in our history we’d invested $100 million in quality-job-creating companies, and provided 215 companies with pro bono advice. In 2008 PCV took our theory of change one step further, starting to show how investing in small, local businesses and prioritizing quality job creation over..Read More
2009
Rising Up In Down Times
2009 was a big year of change for Pacific Community Ventures, and for America. Our founders, Bud and Penelope, made the decision to step down as the leaders of PCV after 10 years. Bud stepped down as Chairman of our board, and in his place Bill Pace took over. And..Read More
Success Story: Galaxy Desserts
As a baking company that crafts exquisite, French-inspired indulgences, Galaxy Desserts’ ability to keep up with demand for its handcrafted croissants was no light matter. In 2005, the Richmond-based company was outgrowing its 36,000 square foot facility and needed more room to fulfill the vision of its talented chef Jean-Yves..Read More
2010
Reinventing Prosperity
Creating good jobs with benefits and wages that let people support themselves and their families — that’s what we meant we started saying the phrase “reinventing prosperity.” We saw the light at the end of the tunnel with the recession in America, and continued making investments of money and expertise..Read More
2011
Results That Transcend Tough Times
2011 was transformational year for Pacific Community Ventures. Following the closing years of the recession, we learned many small business owners needed fair loans to support their business goals. Every day, 8,000 small business loan requests are declined by banks across America. In response, we launched one of our new, foundational..Read More
The Business Case for CDFIs
In 2011, PCV ramped up our policy and field-building research practice to some big state-wide and national acclaim. We have been supporting the development of networks, infrastructure, intermediaries and research designed to accelerate the maturation of an impact investing industry that seeks to create social and environmental benefit in addition to..Read More
Success Story: Petit Collage
Petit Collage’s eco-friendly, vintage inspired room décor and accessories have captured the hearts of parents everywhere, as well as the attention of tastemakers such as Martha Stewart and the New York Times. Owner and designer Lorena Siminovich had been building Petit Collage steadily for five years when she realized the..Read More
2012
Strengthening Communities One Job At A Time
PCV turned 15 this year! And while we still couldn’t legally drive, by 2012 we’d worked with over 3,000 businesses, created more than 30,000 jobs, and enabled over $300,000,000 in wages paid. We also evaluated $25 billion in capital directed to social impact through our consulting practice. 2011 was another big..Read More
Announcing BusinessAdvising.org
Pacific Community Ventures has always been a forward-looking organization, and in 2012 we launched a new platform to transcend the barriers that small business owners face when it comes to finding affordable and qualified advice. Many small business owners began their companies after early success pursuing their skills and passions:..Read More
The Impact Investing Policy Collaborative
In 2011, when PCV and IRI launched the IIPC, we aimed to bring together policymakers and practitioners committed to policy innovation that promotes investing for social and environmental impact. It was a nascent conversation, and we’re grateful to all of you for being early promoters and visionaries. From the very..Read More
2013
Investing More Than Just Money
2013 was a year of building for PCV. After launching several new programs and platforms in 2012, we set about growing our national advising platform and our global impact investing policy platform. The national expansion of our Business Advising program proves the value of mentorship: PCV companies across American created..Read More
Impact Investing 2.0: The Way Forward
In 2013 we published one of the major Impact Investing reports that put us on the map, so to speak. “Impact Investing 2.0: The Way Forward – Insight from 12 Outstanding Funds”, was created in partnership with the Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship (CASE) at Duke University and Impact..Read More
Success Story: Discount Glass and Mirror
Discount Glass and Mirror in San Diego was hit hard by the recession of 2008, and after a precipitous decline in orders and revenue, the company faced possible bankruptcy. Our advisors helped owner Anthony Bortz tighten his cost structure to reflect the slowdown, shift his marketing strategy to target high-opportunity market..Read More
2014
Looking Back, Looking Ahead
In the five years following the start of the “Great Recession” Pacific Community Ventures helped fuel the economic recovery for underinvested communities. Over those five years we invested money and resources in 867 small businesses across 25 states. Those companies created 1,297 jobs, averaging 12% job growth and paying out $250,000,000 in..Read More
The First-Ever “Roadmap for Impact Investing”
In 2014, Pacific Community Ventures created the first-ever “roadmap for impact investing” for the G8 Taskforce on Social Impact Investment. At the same time, we published a seminal report on Impact Investing global policy. In the present day the impact investing industry has been solidly established at a global level, with hundreds..Read More
2015
Investing in Good Jobs for Working People
As we turned the corner into 2015 our economy was thriving — on paper. Since the end of the Great Recession, almost 12 million jobs have been created. But, average wages working Americans have dropped 23 percent. The strongest job growth these past few years has all been in low-wage..Read More
New Leadership, Major Awards
In 2015 we saw the start of a new era at PCV. Over the past years, Pacific Community Ventures’ impact had grown steadily and the organization became poised to scale nationally and internationally. PCV was at an exciting inflection point in 2015 with an effective and proven platform now in..Read More
The Definition Of a Quality Job
2015 was a turning point on PCV’s focus. As an organization we decided that it wasn’t justifiable to focus on job creation alone, and that we would only focus on creating good-quality jobs. But up until now there hasn’t been one authoritative way of defining a quality job that we,..Read More
Impact Investing and Economically-Targeted Investing
There’s almost nothing we’ve been prouder of over the last 20 years than our ability as an organization to create partnerships and build coalitions. In 2015 we turned our eyes to some of the biggest holders of untapped impact capital in America: pension funds. In order to make the case..Read More
Our CGI America Commitment to Action
Perhaps you’ve heard of the Clinton Global Initiative America, which convenes global leaders to create and implement innovative solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges. Well, just two weeks ago, PCV joined hosts President Clinton, Secretary Clinton, and Chelsea Clinton in Denver for the CGI America’s meeting. PCV was proud to..Read More
2016
Investing in Small Business and Big Ideas
In 2016 the U.S. unemployment rate dropped below 5% for the first time in ten years, real incomes rose slightly for the first time in decades, and social impact investing finally entered the mainstream. Yet almost half of American workers are stuck in low-wage jobs at places like strip malls..Read More
Success Story: Industry-Leading Impact Tools
In 2016, PCV began moving from our efforts at laying the groundwork for impact investing, to creating the tools and frameworks that investors would need to create real, measureable social and environmental good. Our early efforts at this involved partnering with Northern California Community Loan Fund (NCCLF), to develop a tool..Read More
Success Story: Annie E. Casey Foundation
The Annie E. Casey Foundation, a private foundation dedicated to improving the lives of America’s children and families, engaged Pacific Community Ventures to conduct the first comprehensive third-party evaluation of its Social Investment Program, a $125 million allocation from its endowment dedicated to mission investing. Through the Social Investment Program, the Foundation..Read More
2017
20 Years Of Investing In Small Business And Big Ideas
Too many people struggle to make ends meet because they haven’t been given a fair chance. In the last 20 years, we’ve impacted the lives of thousands of small business owners who have created and grown tens of thousands of jobs. We invested more than $100 million in quality-job-creating companies and..Read More
Investing in Social Justice
Our programs are also focused on equity and growing community wealth from the ground up. The fastest growing segments of small business owners across America are women and people of color – and they’re far more likely to be turned down for loans or struggle to find mentors. We’re proud..Read More
Growing the Impact Advisory Practice
In our history we’ve influenced more than 50,000 impact investors, federal policymakers, foundation leaders, economists, and pension fund investment managers. In 2017 we continued our thought leadership and field building efforts with active roles in working groups and initiatives including: World Economic Forum’s action group on evidence and cases for..Read More
Re-imagining Retail and Creating Quality Jobs
Small businesses are 98% the US retail sector, and more Americans work in retail than in manufacturing or mining. In 2017 Pacific Community Ventures was chosen as one of 15 fellows by the Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program and awarded a grant through the Aspen Institute’s Re-Imagine Retail initiative to..Read More
Success Story: Humanity United
We collaborated with Humanity United, part of the Omidyar Group, to develop a social impact framework and strategy. This pioneering effort is focused on reducing labor exploitation, human trafficking, and slavery through investments in supply chain solutions. We provided them with a robust set of impact metrics, due diligence tools, and..Read More
2018
Investing Millions in Quality Jobs
For decades, workers across the country have seen their paychecks stagnate, even as corporate profits grow. Yes, the unemployment rate is at a 17-year low, but wages that aren’t rising, unpredictable schedules, low or no benefits and seemingly dead-end jobs are taking their toll. Income and wealth inequality are at..Read More
Piloting Good Jobs, Good Business
We believe that as a society, we simply must do better at creating jobs that are good for workers, good for businesses, and good for communities. As part of our effort to elevate the importance of quality jobs in building wealth and opportunity for everyday Americans, PCV has engaged foundations,..Read More
2019
Working with entrepreneurs and investors to create good jobs and more equitable communities.
Too many people are struggling to make ends meet because they haven’t been given a fair chance. In 2018 the unemployment rate dropped to a 17-year low, yet almost half of American workers are stuck in low-wage jobs; the number of new small businesses is at rock bottom; and race..Read More
The Impact Due Diligence Guide
We’re pleased to announce the release of The Impact Due Diligence Guide. The Guide is a how-to for engaging in impact due diligence and contains actionable advice and guidance for both novices as well as seasoned experts in IMM, covering topics such as building impact-focused due diligence questionnaires and quantitative tools, integrating impact due..Read More
Announcing Good Jobs, Good Business
Small businesses operate in an increasingly competitive market, especially with rising minimum wages and a growing number of laws related to workers’ rights to stable schedules and paid leave. Proactively taking steps such as raising wages, providing scheduling that works for your employees and your business, and streamlining operations can..Read More
2020
The Good Jobs Agenda
As we turned the corner into 2020, Pacific Community Ventures’ work has never been more crucial to the communities we serve. The coronavirus pandemic wiped out 22 million jobs — 10 years of job growth — in the first four weeks, with an additional 37 million jobs vulnerable to layoffs..Read More
2021
PCV Announces The Small Business Support Circle
Pacific Community Ventures has been working hard to stay available to small and minority-owned businesses throughout this crisis, and in bringing together companies and organizations invested in the success and resilience of small businesses across the United States. We are proud to have partnered with Kaiser Permanente to build the..Read More
PCV and Other National Small Business Leaders Release Five-Point Plan to Save the Small Business Sector
The report advances a number of novel policy ideas, including: A federally-backed, first loss guarantee loan program for fintech lenders that operates at the portfolio level to enable disadvantaged entrepreneurs to access right-sized, federally subsidized loans without the onerous paperwork required under current law; The development of a private sector..Read More
Meeting The Moment: U.S. Impact Investing Policy, Inequality, and COVID-19 Recovery
Pacific Community Ventures (PCV) is excited to announce the release of Meeting the Moment: U.S. Impact Investing Policy, Inequality and COVID-19 Recovery. This discussion paper examines how impact investing policy can be leveraged at the federal level to support the impact investing ecosystem in harnessing private capital to address inequality and..Read More
Announcing The California Rebuilding Fund
We’re excited to be a founding member of the California Rebuilding Fund — a new program built to support California’s smallest businesses as you adapt, reopen safely, and recover from the effects of COVID-19. This program has been built in partnership with public, private, and nonprofit leaders across the state to..Read More
The State of Small Business: PCV’s 2020 Impact Report
Times of crisis force us to dig deep in so many ways, and test us in new ways. The COVID-19 pandemic has been a magnifying glass over structural inequity that is generations’ old, and the fallout threatens yet another generation of businesses owned by entrepreneurs of color. The same entrepreneurs..Read More
The Oakland Restorative Loan Fund
Community development financial institutions (CDFIs) like Oakland’s Pacific Community Ventures (PCV) exist to align capital with justice initiatives and to work for communities of color against hundreds of years of systemic racism. The racial justice uprisings last year reinforced how these communities have been historically excluded from banks, government wealth..Read More