Winston-Salem Foundation: Impact Investing Grant

Winston-Salem Foundation: Impact Investing Grant

Status: ACTIVE
Funder: Winston-Salem Foundation
Amount: US $100,000 - US $1,000,000
Last Updated: September 06, 2025

Summary

The Winston-Salem Foundation's Impact Investing program strategically allocates funds to businesses and organizations that foster social change in Forsyth County. By focusing on both social and financial returns, the foundation aims to empower communities of color and address historical inequities. This initiative prioritizes local projects that enhance economic mobility while promoting ownership and governance by those affected, ultimately striving for a more inclusive economy and systemic change.

Overview

Impact Investing Impact investing allocates a portion of the Foundation's endowments to make strategic financial investments in businesses and organizations working for social change in Forsyth County. Unlike traditional grantmaking, these local impact investments generate not only a social return, but also a financial return that can be reinvested in the community. This program complements and augments the Foundation’s work to build an inclusive economy. Our Investing Approach Our impact investing approach integrates both a place-based lens and a racial equity lens. As an organization deeply rooted in Winston-Salem, we have extensive knowledge of community issues. This enables us to actively support initiatives that will lead to greater economic mobility for local residents. We also recognize that many of our community members have long been denied access to resources and opportunities based solely on their race. For decades, public and private institutions have perpetuated discriminatory policies and disinvested in Black and Brown neighborhoods. This history continues to exacerbate the racial wealth gap in our community today. Read more about redlining in our Community Matters blog post. Through this work, we’re serving as a catalyst for change by investing in projects that will primarily benefit communities of color, while mobilizing additional capital and taking meaningful steps to reverse racial inequities. Our role goes beyond financial support; it’s about sparking systemic change and fostering a more just and prosperous future for all. Guiding Principles The Foundation seeks and makes investments in enterprises and economic opportunities that: build the civic, social, and financial capital of communities of color support ownership and governance by communities of color are focused in Forsyth County and/or significantly benefit the population in Forsyth County provide investment growth that can be used to support the Foundation’s grantmaking

Eligibility

You can learn more about this opportunity by visiting the funder's website. We invest in both nonprofit and for-profit organizations that operate in line with the above principles.If your business or organization is based outside of Forsyth County but serves a wide geographic area that includes Forsyth County, the Foundation will consider an investment for the portion of the project that impacts Forsyth County.

Ineligibility

If you are based outside of Forsyth County and you also don't serve Forsyth County, you are not eligible to apply for an impact investment.