Innovative Approaches to Investing with Impact in St. Louis

St. Louis has the potential to grow and sustain meaningful impact investing because of:

  • Its breadth of financial institutions
  • Strong relationships within the philanthropic community
  • The potential to tap into local hospital systems, corporations and anchor institutions

One of today’s biggest barriers to engagement in impact investing in St. Louis is a lack of awareness. This report provides an overview of current impact investing throughout St. Louis and emerging impact investing structures across the U.S., such as Pay for Success and Opportunity Zones. It also includes St. Louis-based case studies such as:

  • Bank Partnerships: Parkside Financial and St. Louis Community Credit Union
  • Foundation Partnerships: Deaconess Foundation, IFF and Urban Sprouts
  • Tax Credit Investor Partnerships: Twain Financial Partners and Justine PETERSEN

Intermediaries—such as community development financial institutions (CDFIs), firms engaged in tax credit investing, and non-CDFI loan funds—offer an accessible path for minimizing risk and transaction costs. Sustained collaborative effort is critical in creating simple, accessible pathways for impact. St. Louis is poised to increase impact investing opportunities by continuing to build a system in which impact investing becomes more the norm and less the exception.

Back to Top