Announcing Strategic National Partnership With Goldman Sachs Gives

Multi-year $1 Million Commitment to Expand and Deepen Community-Driven Impact

BOSTON – March 23, 2022 – The GreenLight Fund, a nonprofit organization investing in community-driven change, and Goldman Sachs Gives announced today a strategic national partnership to deepen and expand impact, improving outcomes for individuals and families across GreenLight’s 11 sites. Through Goldman Sachs Gives, a philanthropic fund for the firm’s partners and retired partners, Goldman Sachs Consumer and Wealth Management partners have recommended $1 million in grants that will be designated over the next four years. As part of this partnership, they will also engage their Goldman Sachs colleagues and networks to invest in and collaborate with GreenLight.

“Empowering our clients and customers to achieve their financial goals is at the core of everything we do in Consumer and Wealth Management at Goldman Sachs. Supporting the communities in which many of our clients and customers live and work is an extension of that mission,” said Stephanie Cohen, global co-head of Consumer and Wealth Management. “GreenLight Fund’s unique and innovative approach in the cities they serve is highly complementary to our mission and we’re excited to be part of their expansion and growth.”

GreenLight engages with local communities to address challenges that can make a significant difference in the lives of residents facing barriers to prosperity. Every year, in each GreenLight site, they elevate a specific, community-identified unmet need, find and assess programs with successful track records meeting that need elsewhere and partner with the community to launch a program with the best local fit. GreenLight’s impact across their network increases every year as they grow their portfolio of best-in-class organizations making measurable progress. To ensure success and long-term sustainability, GreenLight provides multi-year start-up capital and hands-on support, facilitates partnerships and regularly assesses progress against targets.

“We are so incredibly grateful for Goldman Sachs Gives’ support, helping GreenLight scale our reach and national footprint more effectively,” said John Simon, GreenLight Co-founder and Board Chair. “This strategic partnership will help improve outcomes for so many as we bring proven programs that drive lasting impact, creating opportunities for individuals and families to thrive.”

Since starting in Boston in 2004, GreenLight has expanded its network to ten additional sites including Atlanta, Baltimore, Charlotte, Cincinnati, Detroit, Kansas City, Greater Newark, Philadelphia, the San Francisco Bay Area and the Twin Cities, with additional cities planned over the next few years. GreenLight has launched 39 portfolio organizations since its founding and in this past year alone reached more than 417,000 individuals and families. This reach continues to grow exponentially as they invite in another proven organization every year in each of their sites. GreenLight programs address issues that all too often stem from longstanding racial inequities including early childhood literacy, college access and persistence, community safety, teacher effectiveness, youth mental health, the digital divide, family economic mobility, food insecurity and youth aging out of foster care.

Margaret Hall, GreenLight Co-founder and CEO added, “As we continue to make real progress on addressing deep-rooted racial and economic inequities with innovative, proven programs that are rooted at the local level, we are grateful for Goldman Sachs Gives’ support. The partnership enables us to strengthen the strategic scaffolding and operational excellence needed to most effectively support our community-driven work, both in our current cities and our growing network.”

Goldman Sachs Gives joins a growing list of GreenLight’s national donors, including Bain Capital, Bank of America, Deloitte and iHeartMedia Inc., as well as a deep roster of local donors in each of GreenLight’s sites. To date, GreenLight has invested more than $26 million in local organizations in 11 cities across its network and leveraged an additional $165 million in other contributions.