ABOUT US
Community Capital Advisors helps community foundations and other place-based funders maximize their local impact by prudently aligning their investment capital, policies and practices with their mission to advance racial equity, inclusive economies, sustainable growth and healthy communities.
We offer guidance, insight and ongoing support from a team of “been there” practitioners with in-depth community investing experience and commitment to racial equity, innovative thinking and action in the field of philanthropy.
We specialize in community impact loan funds and impact investing strategies across asset classes, guiding clients through each step of opportunity identification, board education and consensus building, design, development, donor engagement and implementation. Once established, we provide ongoing investment due diligence, monitoring and reporting.
WHY CCA?
Why Partner With Us?
Place-based entities like community foundations, family foundations and other philanthropic organizations are increasingly embarking on a new value proposition that centers social equity in all facets of their work and complements traditional grantmaking with local community investments to achieve greater local impact.
CCA offers expert guidance through the entire process of designing and implementing equity-focused, place-based investment strategies. We draw on first-hand experience as practitioners and leaders across various domains to help place-based funders achieve greater impact by aligning their investment capital, policies and practices with their mission and goals to build vibrant inclusive communities.
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We are deeply committed to principles of racial equity and social justice
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We bring cross-disciplinary expertise from philanthropy, investment management, banking, affordable housing, and community development finance
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We understand the unique complexities of foundations and equity-focused community investing
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We understand the intricacies of the community development environment and how to work collaboratively across stakeholder groups
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We know how to leverage capital across asset classes and the full spectrum of impact investing strategies including recoverable grants, guarantees, program- and mission-related investments
With CCA’s support, your organization is better equipped to make community investments, directly and in collaboration with other investors, donors, government and community development financial institutions:
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We guide you through the entire process of design through implementation, and then provide ongoing day-to-day support of operations and administration
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We help you with education, communications and consensus building that are responsive to board members, grantees, donors and the broader community
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We help you achieve your public benefit purpose as an institutional asset owner by influencing an equitable flow of capital through the economy and ultimately to the communities you serve
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We support your compliance with fiduciary duties of care and obedience
And for those who need it, CCA provides an outsourced solution for ongoing due diligence, monitoring and reporting so that even the smallest foundations can align their capital with their mission and accelerate impact.
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Learn more about our services and the value that CCA can provide your organization.
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WHO WE ARE
Team
MARC RAND
MANAGING PARTNER
Marc Rand is the Founder and Managing Partner of Community Capital Advisors, a national consultancy focused on community investment. He leads an amazing team to support foundations (community, private, and corporate) invest in nonprofits and social impact companies. He also manages several nonprofit loan funds, including American Nonprofits and the Nonprofit Insurance Alliance of California's member loan fund.
Marc is the former Program Director for Loans and Affordable Housing at Marin Community Foundation (MCF). While at MCF Marc invested more than $50 million in Marin-based nonprofits during a 12 year period with a 0% default rate.
Marc also developed one of the nation’s first donor development strategies connected to impact investing while at MCF and was able to increase loan capital five-fold from $5 million to $25 million. Prior to MCF, Marc served in the Peace Corps (Romania) where he led the development of 5 credit unions. Marc started his career in international banking.
Marc served six years as a Board Member, two as Board Chair, for Opportunity Fund, a small business CDFI micro-loan fund with assets over $75 million. marc@communitycapitaladvisors.us
BERT FEUSS
SENIOR ADVISOR
Bert Feuss specializes in the alignment of investment capital and practices with mission to advance racial equity, inclusive economies, sustainable growth and healthy communities. With sixteen years of community foundation leadership experience in development, finance and investments, and over three decades of experience across philanthropic, nonprofit and corporate sectors, Bert brings extensive experience helping organizations navigate growth and implement prudent, equity-focused investment practices and place-based investment strategies.
As the former Senior Vice President of Investments and a founding leadership team member of Silicon Valley Community Foundation, Bert stewarded asset growth from $2 to $10 billion. He developed high-performing ESG and impact portfolios, championed diverse asset managers, and pioneered direct impact investments from donor-advised funds.
Prior to SVCF, Bert was the Director of Professional Services at Peninsula Community Foundation. Before that he served as Senior Vice President at Franklin Templeton Investments in a variety of marketing, sales and product development roles. He holds an MBA from Golden Gate University and BS from the University of California, Davis.
Bert serves as volunteer investment advisor to the UC Davis Foundation and The California Endowment, and serves as business coach for Fondo Adelante, a San Francisco CDFI. Prior board roles include Northern California Planned Giving Council, Mission Investors Exchange, and the Fiscal and Administrative Officers Group (FAOG) for community foundations. bert@communitycapitaladvisors.us
ERIC WEAVER
SENIOR ADVISOR
Eric Weaver brings over three decades of experience in community economic development and community development finance. He began his career as a relief worker in El Salvador, bringing aid to internally displaced refugees from the civil war there in the 1980s. He then worked as a community organizer and project manager at an affordable housing nonprofit in Washington, DC, near where he grew up in Bethesda, MD.
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After moving west to pursue an MBA at Stanford, he ended up staying in California for 30 years. In 1992, he founded what is now the nation’s leading small and microbusiness lending CDFI - Opportunity Fund (now Accion Opportunity Fund). When Eric stepped down as CEO in 2017, Opportunity Fund had over 100 employees and a small business loan portfolio under management of over $100 million. The company has also been a leader in Individual Development Accounts, Affordable Housing lending, New Markets Tax Credit lending and advocacy on the issue of curbing irresponsible and predatory small business lending. Last year, Opportunity Fund surpassed $1 billion in cumulative community investment. eric@communitycapitaladvisors.us
SARAH BENNETT
DIRECTOR OF COMMUNITY INVESTMENT
As a seasoned finance executive, Sarah Bennett supports Community Capital Advisors clients with over two decades of nonprofit underwriting and portfolio management expertise.
Previously, Sarah was a Senior Vice President in the Community Lending and Investment Division at Wells Fargo where she managed a CDFI portfolio that included large national lenders to small rural CDFIs. In addition to lending, Sarah played a leadership role in implementing the CDFI investment program across the Wells Fargo footprint which included pipeline development, program design, and community outreach. Sarah also has product development experience structuring new debt and equity solutions for her nonprofit clients.
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Prior to Wells Fargo, Sarah worked in the Community Affairs Department of the San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank and for U.S. Representative Anna Eshoo.
Sarah served on the Loan Committee for the Loan Income Investment Fund for nine years and on the board of a nonprofit homeless agency for five years.
Her career passion is getting capital into communities in need by using prudent and innovative financial products. Sarah holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science from Stanford University and a Master’s Degree in Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. sarah@communitycapitaladvisors.us
THERESA WILSON
ADVISOR
Theresa Wilson supports Community Capital Advisors with portfolio management and internal operations. Previously she was at Avivar Capital where she managed internal operations and conducted investment due diligence and client portfolio management. Prior she supported a $50M impact portfolio at Omidyar Network, worked in SME Private Equity at the IFC, supported the Market Dynamics team at Results for Development, and served as a Kiva Fellow working to launch Kiva’s US-based micro finance platform. Before Kiva, she served in the U.S. Peace Corps in the Republic of Georgia and Costa Rica.
Theresa holds an MBA and MA in Global Affairs from Yale University where she was a Forte Fellow, Executive Director of the Yale Journal of International Affairs, and co-chair of the Yale Philanthropy Conference. She earned her BS in finance and in interdisciplinary business management with a marketing minor, magna cum laude, from Miami University. theresa@communitycapitaladvisors.us
Advisory Network
Community Capital Advisors' Advisory Network are close allies and thought leaders in the field of community investment and social justice. In addition to their own leadership building a more just and equitable economy, Advisory Network members collaborate closely with the CCA team to center equity in all we do, advance our thinking and practices, and expand our community of practitioners, impact investors, and clients.
ERIKA SETH DAVIES
RACIAL EQUITY ADVISOR
Erika Seth Davies is the Founder of The Racial Equity Asset Lab (The REAL), an organization working in partnership with Common Future that centers racial equity in impact investing and works to shift capital to close the persistent racial wealth gap.
Erika is a Social Entrepreneur in Residence with Common Future and a Fellow, Equitable Access to Capital Markets in the Fair Finance portfolio of the Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation at Georgetown University. Davies combines social impact skills with expertise on issues of racial equity, diversity, and inclusion. She also brings to this work over two decades of experience leading nonprofit and philanthropic organizations including the Baltimore Community Foundation and the Association of Black Foundation Executives (ABFE).
During her time as the Vice President of External Affairs at ABFE, Davies designed the SMART Investing initiative–the first effort to incorporate a racial equity lens in foundation endowment practice through increased access for minority-owned and women-owned investment management firms. In addition to her work with The Racial Equity Asset Lab, Davies also serves on the boards of Impact Hub Baltimore, Baltimore Algebra Project, and the Baltimore Children and Youth Fund.
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THURMAN V. WHITE, JR.
INVESTMENT ADVISOR
Thurman White is a thought leader and pioneer in driving policies and practices that foster racial justice and meaningful opportunities for minority-owned investment management firms. He is a licensed attorney, angel investor, business mentor, and racial justice and minority business advocate. He recently retired as CEO of Progress Investment Management Company (Progress), a boutique investment advisory firm in San Francisco.
Progress was launched in 1990 as an employee-owned asset manager and leader in investing in diverse-owned investment managers across the U.S. At its peak, the firm managed over $7 billion in assets in multi-manager strategies for some of the largest and most prestigious pensions and institutional investors. During his 28-year tenure as CEO, Thurman chaired the firm’s board of directors and provided strategic leadership for all aspects of the business including investment strategy, executive team and culture building, business development, client relationship management, compliance, operations and civic engagement. Progress ended its investment advisory business in 2020.
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Prior to joining Progress, Thurman worked in public policy and marketing for a Fortune 100 corporation, served as legal counsel for a state legislative committee on utility and telecommunications policy and regulatory oversight, and began his career as a federal agency staff attorney.
Thurman has served on many for-profit and nonprofit boards, including the board of Silicon Valley Community Foundation where he chaired the Investment Committee and continues to serve on the committee today.
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Thurman earned his undergraduate degree from Princeton, and graduate degrees from Stanford and the University of California, Berkeley Law. thurman@communitycapitaladvisors.us
VINITA GOYAL
PLACE-BASED COMMUNITY INVESTMENTS ADVISOR
Vinita Goyal brings fifteen plus years of experience from the nonprofit and public sectors and as a consultant, where she has worked at the intersection of affordable housing, placemaking, transportation, climate resilience, small business development, sustainable agriculture, and the arts.
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Vinita is skilled at designing and implementing place-based initiatives through strategic visioning, employing systems level approaches, and bridging stakeholder relationships. She is passionate about place-based solutions that align infrastructure improvements with community needs and aspirations, include and validate the personal and community-based experiences of those impacted, and forge strong working partnerships with allied organizations and anchor institutions that are instrumental in engaging and empowering the community and creating alternate pathways to equitable solutions.
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As a strong advocate for community ownership-based housing models that are racial justice-centric and an effective anti-speculative housing solution, Vinita brings a depth of expertise from her urban planning and policy work in the public sector in Seattle and the Bay Area, and as the housing and transportation program officer at Silicon Valley Community Foundation where she prioritized investment in local community land trusts. Vinita is currently serving on the board for the San Francisco Community Land Trust.
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Vinita’s published work has appeared in national industry publications, and she has shared her research and professional viewpoints at professional and academic conferences. She received her bachelor’s in architecture from the Government College of Architecture in Lucknow, India, and earned her master’s in city and regional planning at UC Berkeley.
DONNA KELLEY
COMMUNITY FINANCE ADVISOR
Donna Kelley has provided financial consulting, real estate lending analysis and underwriting services as a banker and independent contractor for twenty-five years. Specializing in the affordable housing industry and with experience in other community-oriented projects such as childcare facilities, charter schools, and community health and wellness centers, she has worked for a variety of financial institutions and lenders, including a non-profit CDFI.
She has skill using a variety of financial tools, including bonds, tax credits (including housing and new markets), local, state and federal financing sources and conventional lending sources. She has underwritten many different types of loans, including predevelopment, land acquisition, construction and permanent financing. Her underwriting activities also requires an extensive knowledge of financial analysis of developer/borrower financial statements, title, valuation, legal, environmental review and other aspects of successful lending.
Ms. Kelley has an MBA in Finance from the University of Colorado-Boulder, a B.A. in French from the University of Colorado and a Certificat de Français Parlé from the Alliance Française in Paris, France.
Associates
ROBERT ZAPATA
FINANCIAL ANALYST INTERN
Robert Zapata has served as Peace Corps volunteer in Peru, developing community banks, in addition to serving as the Community Development Manager for Accion Opportunity Fund. There, he led partnerships with 70+ mission-driven organizations throughout California and Nevada – propelling the investment of over $16 million into entrepreneurs in underserved communities . Robert is a proud graduate of UCLA.
ZACK RENICK
SOCIAL MEDIA INTERN
Zack Renick is a Social Media Intern for American Nonprofits and Community Capital Advisors. He is currently finishing his Bachelor's degree in combined Economics and Mathematics at UCSC and will be graduating Spring 2022. He is then furthering his studies at Santa Cruz through the pursuit of a Masters in Applied Economics and Finance. Zack is currently a starting member of UCSC's nationally ranked Ultimate Frisbee and Overwatch teams. After school, he plans to work in the esports industry as data analyst or social media manager.
SOCIAL JUSTICE
Social Justice Statement
As a nation, we are grappling with fundamental truths about our world marked by heinous acts of violence and inequitable policies inflicted upon and directed at black, brown, indigenous, Asian, LGBTQ, and other marginalized people.
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We recognize and acknowledge our history holds centuries of oppression and systemic racism that lives on today. This must change. We understand that the work that has been done to address racial injustice requires further effort, and we need to do more.
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We commit to continuing to listen and learn and advocate for meeting the needs of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and people of color) communities and other marginalized people—and to help create an equitable financial system, as we believe a brighter financial future should be accessible to everyone.
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We are committed to the pursuit of racial and social justice by enabling the flow of philanthropic capital to more BIPOC owned or led asset managers, entrepreneurs, communities and community serving nonprofits.
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We promise to work to seek justice and to better support communities of color and BIPOC-led nonprofits and funders through our services and through the education of non-BIPOC asset owners, allocators and intermediaries.
We pledge to help our clients incorporate alternative due diligence benchmarks and standards that expand access to credit to communities of color and organizations led by people of color, and that allocate more capital to diverse-owned asset managers in parity with national demographic representation.
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What We Believe
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We believe that a stable and secure financial future should be accessible to everyone.
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We believe that systemic oppression has kept many Black, Indigenous, Hispanic/Latina(o), Asian and other marginalized populations from achieving financial stability and security.
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We believe diversity in the finance and investment industry should be more reflective of our society.
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We believe we have the power to create positive change through the work we do, by:
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Helping foundations understand how their investment policies and practices may not be contributing to principles of diversity, equity and inclusion
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Providing education to foundation boards, committees, leaders, staff and investment consultants
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Advancing alternative underwriting due diligence standards that expand access to credit to communities of color and that allocate more capital to diverse-owned asset managers