A fund priority
Program-related investments, completed.
Program-related investments are among the most powerful instruments available to a civic institution: capital sized to a transformation, disciplined by measurement, and forgiven, in the greater part, on results. The Momentum Fund makes them whole. It stands behind the portion a primary funder does not forgive — so the institution carries the work forward, and the funder's capital returns to serve again.
The instrument
What a program-related investment is.
A facility a foundation extends to advance its charitable purpose, on terms the market would decline. It is recognized in law and long established in practice: the capital is placed as an investment, governed by a charter of measured outcomes, and designed so that most of it becomes a gift when those outcomes are achieved.
Charitable in purpose
Three tests, cleanly met.
The facility's primary purpose is the funder's exempt purpose; the production of income is incidental; and legislation and campaigns lie wholly outside it. The purpose is the institution's own work — education, access, conservation, service.
Below market by design
Nominal rate, patient tenor.
Interest at a nominal rate, a multi-year term, and an opening runway with interest only — a repayment curve drawn to the institution's revenue profile rather than a lender's.
Forgiven on results
The greater part becomes a gift.
Most of the principal is performance-linked, forgiven when milestones agreed before the first draw are met and independently reviewed. A lesser balance remains repayable on a shallow schedule — and that balance is where the Fund stands.
Where the Fund stands
Coverage of the repayable balance.
After forgiveness, a repayable balance remains — the lesser part of the facility, carried at a nominal rate over the remainder of the term. It is modest in proportion and decisive in effect: it is the obligation a board weighs before it says yes, and the reason a sound facility can wait a season too long.
The Momentum Fund commits, alongside the primary funder and at closing, coverage of that balance: a reserved charitable commitment, documented in the facility's sources and uses, dedicated to retiring the repayable tranche as it falls due. The commitment is issued through the Fund's fiduciary sponsor, for that stated purpose, on terms settled with the primary funder before the first draw.
The arithmetic favors everyone at the table. The institution receives a facility that performs as a grant conditioned on results it fully intends to achieve. The primary funder's recoverable capital returns in full and on schedule, ready for charitable use again. And a facility that might have stalled on its last tranche closes — at the scale the work deserves.
A commitment sized to the remainder, leveraged by the whole.
How coverage works
Four steps, settled before the first draw.
Coverage is structural, written into the facility from the start.
01 — Alignment
The Fund joins at underwriting.
Before closing, the Fund reviews the facility beside the primary funder: its charitable purpose, its measurement charter, the milestone schedule and the forgiveness attached to each, and the repayable balance that will remain. Coverage is sized to that balance.
02 — Commitment
Documented at closing.
The Fund's coverage appears in the closing sources and uses with its amount, purpose, timing, and terms. It is recommended by the Fund and issued through its fiduciary sponsor, under the same review that governs every grant the Fund makes.
03 — Forgiveness
Determined by the funder, independently reviewed.
The primary funder determines forgiveness of the performance-linked principal against the agreed milestones, supported by independent review. The institution's achievement is measured on its own terms, by the people who set them.
04 — Retirement
The balance retires on schedule.
As the repayable tranche falls due, the Fund's commitment retires it. The primary funder's capital returns whole. The institution closes its record with the capacity, the audiences, and the evidence the facility was built to produce.
What this makes possible
Scale, discipline, and a clean close.
Scale
Capital sized to a transformation
A facility large enough to change an institution's trajectory — new audiences, new capacity, new earned revenue — rather than fund a season.
Discipline
Measurement agreed first
Milestones, comparison design, and forgiveness terms are settled before the first draw. Achievement is documented, reviewed, and rewarded.
Completion
The last tranche, covered
The repayable balance is met by the Fund's commitment. The board approves a facility whose full arc — draw, performance, forgiveness, retirement — is known at signing.
Recurrence
Capital that goes again
The primary funder's recoverable capital returns on schedule and is available for charitable use once more. A structure that works once is ready to work again.
Leverage decides. Here, it is arithmetic.
A primary funder structuring a facility, or an institution weighing one, may bring it to the Fund's attention through the nomination channel. The Fund engages early, so that coverage is part of the design rather than an addition to it.