'Investment Club' of Foundations Pays Off for Nonprofits

The first investment made by a group of New York foundations that decided to pool their resources last fall isn’t likely to generate much cash.

But for residents of the Port Morris neighborhood in the South Bronx, returns from the program-related investment, or PRI, will be "humongous," predicts Plinio Ayala, president of Per Scholas, a work-force training nonprofit that received a $250,000 loan from the New York Pooled PRI Fund. Per Scholas will use the loan to finish building an urban development center, where local residents will get training and, eventually, jobs as software testers at Doran Jones, a business that will place an office on the site. Ayala expects the center to create 150 jobs within 18 months.

While there are other pooled funds for foundations to make program-related investments, this one is different.