Come join us, and put your resources to work assisting families and individuals in need.
Organizations and individuals invest in the Leviticus Fund because they want to know their resources are being used to improve the quality of life in the region where they live and work while also generating a financial return on their investment. To offer this double-bottom-line benefit, we rely on our expertise in lending in low-income areas and the capacity-building support we offer our nonprofit borrowers, which ensures the projects we finance both benefit their communities and achieve financial sustainability. Our loans have a record of performance that competes with conventional lenders, and we support projects that improve families and communities in the process.
We offer these investment opportunities to both organizations and individuals.
Members
Our members have typically been religious communities, churches, faith-affiliated organizations (e.g., healthcare systems and universities) and nonprofit organizations, but any tax-exempt nonprofit can become a Leviticus member.
To become a member, a nonprofit 501 (c)(3) organization makes at least a $5,000 subvention loan to Leviticus for a period of at least five years and receives a fixed interest payment each year. Our members gather each year to elect our Board and approve any changes to our organizational documents. They put their capital directly at work to further their values on the ground, in communities on the margins and serving individuals and families in need. Our members guide our mission and represent the social justice values that inspired our founders.
View a list of current Member investors
Associates
Organizations:
Any corporation can become an Associate and this group of investors includes religious orders, faith-based organizations, nonprofits and health care systems. An Associate investor must invest a minimum of $1,000 for at least one year and receives a fixed interest payment annually.
Individuals:
We seek to make it as easy as possible for individual investors to align their values and capital with our mission. Individuals may invest in Leviticus by making a loan as small as $1,000 for a one year term that pays a fixed interest payment each year.
Individual investors are required to review our Offering Memorandum which provides financial and organizational management information about Leviticus and the risks inherent in a community development investment.
View a list of current Associate individual investors
If you would like to explore investing in Leviticus, please contact us at [email protected]
Some Investor Profiles
Sisters of Mary Reparatrix
Leviticus Member Investor
Like many social-impact investors, the Sisters of Mary Reparatrix began investing with a modest dollar amount. The congregation was already active in shareholder advocacy on environmental and social issues through the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR), and accepted an invitation from another ICCR member, Sr. Pat Wolf, RSM, who was helping to form the nascent Leviticus Fund.
The Reparatrix sisters hold the first investment offered by Leviticus in February of 1983. They remain active investors to this day, along with 65 other Member investors that hold over $4.8 million in combined investments.
“It all took time, and we had to watch our pennies to make sure we could safely invest this money,” said Sr. Ann Kasparek, USA Region Team Member. “We have never regretted our investment and over the years have added to it. We have an ongoing commitment to Leviticus.”
Sr. Ann and Sr. Margaret Hoey, the USA Region Treasurer, said the sisters were drawn to Leviticus because it gave priority to providing capital to groups that showed potential, but were not considered credit worthy by traditional lenders. The tristate focus was also important. The sisters trace their roots back to 1908 when they arrived in the New York Archdiocese. Their first ministries involved retreats and spiritual direction, and they operated a retreat house in New York City just blocks from the Empire State building.
Over time ministries changed, and with the sale of properties the sisters increased their investments.
“What keeps us committed is really two things: one that you are aiming at sustainability. The projects touch people directly and as an investor we see our money being used wisely in service to the poor,” said Sr. Ann. “Your overhead is also low and Leviticus wisely uses money for staff and for growth.”
Social-impact investing by groups like the Reparatrix sisters was also guided by justice and faith.
“There is a quote that ‘justice is a constitutive element of the Gospel’,” explained Sr. Margaret, referencing the 1971 Vatican document, Justice in the World. “So many people are better at charity then they are with justice. For women religious those words were an awakening to what we could do. As we sold properties we did not just take the money, we wanted to invest. It was a conscious decision. It was a moment of grace.”
“I just love the variety of projects that Leviticus finances and the success stories,” added Sr. Ann. “Leviticus is very responsible. You do your research before making a loan, and that is really important. You are not afraid to venture out with some of these organizations that have potential, and just need that extra boost.”
Sr. Ann Kasparek, USA Region Team Member
Sr. Margaret Hoey, USA Region Treasurer
New York Quarterly Meeting
Leviticus Associate Investor
New York Quarterly Meeting is steeped in the worship tradition of the Religious Society of Friends and also guided by Quaker values of simplicity, peace, integrity, community, equality and stewardship in its social activism.
Members are drawn from monthly worship groups within six distinct neighborhoods in New York City, including the oldest meeting house in Flushing, Queens. The quarterly meeting is the space for collaboration on shared business like investment decisions and social witness. Prison reform, anti-fracking in New York State, rights of Native Americans and climate change are paramount concerns, as is the growing scarcity of affordable housing in New York City.
Our tri-state footprint and consistently strong financial and social impact performance motivated New York Quarterly Meeting to become an Associate investor with Leviticus, joining with over 120 faith-based organizations to use their financial assets for projects within underserved communities.
“Our investments are screened for social criteria to be consistent with Quaker values. We have invested with some of the biggest national CDFIs, but Leviticus won the prize for being the most locally focused for New York City. Members of the group felt comfortable investing with Leviticus because it was really creating new affordable housing in the New York metro area and was most consistent with putting our money to work in the communities where we live.”
Diane Keefe
Member Investment Sub-Committee
New York Quarterly Meeting Trustees
