Hartford Foundation Announces New Community and Economic Development Initiative

HFPG Impact! Greater Hartford will create new investment opportunities beyond traditional grantmaking

The Hartford Foundation for Public Giving announces the launch of HFPG Impact! Greater Hartford, a new initiative aimed to help transform the Greater Hartford region for generations to come. 

HFPG Impact! Greater Hartford puts a greater portion of the Foundation’s assets to work for the 29 towns it serves -- catalyzing community and economic development in ways that lift up all residents and maximize the region’s growth and quality of life. 

“HFPG Impact! Greater Hartford is about Investments Igniting Impact,” said Jay Williams, who serves as president of both the Hartford Foundation and HFPG Impact!Greater Hartford. “With a multi-million dollar allocation already in place, the Foundation’s Board has signaled its intent to multiply the thrust of the Foundation’s resources in a manner that is notably different than anything we’ve ever done in the past.”

HFPG Impact, LLC is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Hartford Foundation created to engage in this new way of working. By establishing a separate corporation, the Foundation has extensive flexibility, through partnerships or on its own, to make investments beyond the scope and range of the Foundation’s traditional grantmaking. HFPG Impact! Greater Hartford investments are separate from, and in addition to, the Foundation’s 93-plus year history of traditional grantmaking. 

HFPG Impact! Greater Hartford will involve collaborative investments in companies, organizations, and funds with the intention to generate measurable community benefit and potential financial return.

Potential investments will be catalytic and transformative in nature and will be evaluated based on the ability to leverage additional funding, the risk profile of the investment, and the unique value that Foundation capital can add to the deal.  HFPG Impact! Greater Hartford can bring “patient capital” to areas that traditional capital tends to overlook.

The core endowment of the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving is unaffected and retains its status as a source of perpetual income that funds $33-36 million in annual grantmaking.

Furthermore, the Hartford Foundation’s well-established and prudent stewardship of the resources it has been entrusted with remains unchanged, even as it takes this seminal step toward greater impact.

“We are excited about the ability to help transform the region in new ways that people haven’t typically associated with the Hartford Foundation,” said Williams. “We have been ramping up discussions and growing a pipeline of potential projects across the 29 town region that we serve. We are eager to expand awareness of this exciting new initiative.”

JoAnn Price, the Chair of the Foundation’s Board stated, “This Board of Directors is about ensuring that the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving is a force for positive change in our communities. We want the Hartford Foundation to be perceived as willing to shake things up for the good of our region.”

“The Board of Directors is committed to ensuring this effort has the resources it needs to be successful and has already allocated $4 million to this new endeavor and intends to consider increasing that amount in the future,” said Ted Sergi, Vice Chair of the Foundation’s Board of Directors and Chair of the Foundation’s Policy and Strategy Committee.

HFPG Impact! Greater Harford will be seeking opportunities to invest in projects from throughout the region that focus on creating inclusive community benefit. These efforts could include, but are not limited to:

• Providing capital to projects that increase access to critical needs (such as quality, affordable housing) and/or improve the quality of life for residents;
• Ensuring community and economic development projects have inclusive community benefit;
• Creating more equitable and inclusive access to capital to spur business growth and entrepreneurship particularly for underserved residents.