Publication Date
January 2008Author(s)
Janneke RatcliffeJanneke Ratcliffe reports on the social outcomes of Banc of America’s Capital Access Funds, which channel private equity to under-served markets.
Banc of America Capital Access Funds (BACAF) is a fund of funds channeling private equity capital to underserved markets. BACAF and its investors, Bank of America, CalSTRS and CalPERS, have deployed capital in private equity funds that have the capacity to deliver financial returns while providing capital to people and communities that have traditionally lacked access to such capital. In return, these funds have brought their professionals’ skills to bear in exciting companies that exhibit promising prospects while also building capital links that in many instances had not previously existed.
The UNC Center for Community Capital with funding from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, examined and documented the social outcomes of these investments.
Bank of America annual reports in 2006 and 2007 illustrate the economic opportunities created by investments in minority-run ventures, inner-city companies, rural enterprises and ventures that hire lower-wage workers or supply underserved customer groups.