CFO Announces New Cultural Investment Fund
Posted in Agency Partners, APSI, Arts in Action, Mission-Related Investments, New Funds, News, Uncategorized | June 28th, 2010 | Share on Facebook
The Community Foundation today announced the creation of the CFO Cultural Investment Fund, a revolving low-interest loan program to help Springfield-Greene County arts and cultural organizations pay advance costs for performances and exhibits.
The CFO Cultural Investment Fund will offer loans of $1,000 to $20,000 to non-profit groups to help cover the down-payment costs associated with booking major performers, shows or exhibits. The loans, which will carry a 4 percent interest rate, are designed to be re-paid by ticket proceeds, sponsorship funds, or other income raised by the event.
“Managers of our local arts and cultural venues have said that the lack of capital to pay the up-front costs required in many of these contracts impedes their ability to book major regional or national shows,” said Brian Fogle, executive vice president of the Community Foundation.
In fact, the City of Springfield’s Arts, Culture and Tourism Strategic Planning Committee also plans to identify this issue as one of its goals for enhancing arts and culture offerings in Springfield, he said.
The community arts leaders who serve on the CFO’s Arts Programming Sustainability Initiative committee will review and approve all applications. The Fund will be open to all eligible Springfield-Greene County 501(c)3 agencies, but each participant will be required to make a one-time investment of $2,500 into the fund in order to submit applications. The CFO’s initial investment will be $50,000.
The Cultural Investment Fund is the second component of the CFO’s Mission-Related Investment Program. The CFO Board of Directors created this program in 2009 to commit up to 2 percent of the CFO’s assets for community investment. The program represents the CFO’s commitment to the “double-bottom line” of investing in enterprises that produce both financial and social returns for Ozarks communities, instead of investing assets solely in financial markets.
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