After the fire: An ‘investor collaborative’ for long-term disaster recovery

As a California resident and director of investments at the California Wellness Foundation, I’ve seen how the most challenging phase of disaster recovery often comes after the crisis has passed. Once the headlines fade, families and small businesses are left navigating long timelines and rising costs for rebuilding—and uncertainty about whether they can remain in their communities.

Because Cal Wellness is deeply rooted in community partnerships, we hear directly from local organizations about what it takes to support rebuilding and long-term recovery: flexible, patient capital such as program-related investments (PRIs) and low- or zero-interest loans. And as an engineer and finance professional, I also understand how the mechanics of investments can either support rebuilding or unintentionally slow it down.

After the January 2025 Eaton Wildfires in Altadena and Pasadena, California, conversations with community development financial institutions (CDFIs) and nonprofit partners increasingly focused on how to finance rebuilding over years, not months, in ways that preserve local ownership and reduce displacement risk. That insight led a group of impact investors to focus on laying the financial groundwork for longer-term recovery.

An investor collaborative to rebuild and preserve communities

Immediately following the Eaton Fire, Cal Wellness made $3 million in PRIs in Neighborhood Housing Services (NHS) of Los Angeles and Greenline Housing Foundation to support interim housing, land acquisition, and rebuilding efforts. While these loans helped stabilize conditions on the ground, we found that creating a formal infrastructure to coordinate with other place-based funders could strengthen the broader disaster recovery ecosystem—local organizations, funders, CDFIs, and intermediaries.

So, we joined half a dozen impact investors to form the Los Angeles Wildfires Recovery & Rebuilding Investor Collaborative, housed at the California Community Foundation (CCF). Our shared premise is straightforward: Whether local CDFIs, nonprofits, and families receive flexible capital shapes whether communities can preserve their identity as rebuilding unfolds.

Flexible capital for longer disaster recovery timelines

Grants remain essential, particularly in the immediate aftermath of disaster. Over time, however, rebuilding also requires capital that is affordable, flexible, and structured around recovery timelines. Patient capital—such as low-interest loans and loan guarantees—can be used to de-risk, attract, and mobilize additional investments.

The investor collaborative works together to source, conduct due diligence on investment opportunities, and share information and know-how. To date, members have collectively allocated over $30 million in PRIs and grants to nonprofits with shared priorities.

To give investors the flexibility to invest either directly into an organization or through a pooled fund, we’re now working to launch a $100 million investment platform that blends low-interest loans and loan guarantees with conventional bank loans and corporate grants—to support housing recovery, small business stabilization, and land banking (purchasing property to eventually transfer it for community use). CCF has pledged $30 million to seed the pooled fund, structured to attract additional investors. Cal Wellness is underwriting a commitment of $2 million to the fund, in addition to the $3 million in PRIs.

This approach aligns with recent analysis from the Milken Institute, which anticipates expanded use of PRIs, low- or zero-interest loans, and loan guarantees that can later be scaled with public capital.

A ‘back office’ to support coordination, reduce nonprofit burden

Funder collaboratives are not new, but investor collaboratives in support of nonprofits are less common. What’s often underestimated is the operational effort required for investors to align and move capital efficiently—given institutional funders’ different mandates, risk tolerances, and processes. To help reduce duplication, share information, and execute investments consistently, we rely on a shared back-office function led by Avivar Capital.

Although this infrastructure is designed primarily for investors, it also reduces the downstream burden for nonprofit and CDFI partners. When funders reuse diligence and align documentation, nonprofits face fewer overlapping requests and can spend more time on implementation.

An infrastructure to sustain investor collaboration for rebuilding

This is not Cal Wellness’s first experience with an investor collaborative, but working in disaster recovery has sharpened several lessons. Combined with my earlier experience helping run the New Mexico Impact Investing Collaborative, this work has reinforced a few observations:

• Collaboration requires sustained coordination and clear ownership of responsibilities and a shared vision.
• Focus helps avoid fatigue: This collaborative is focused on investments, complementing grantmaking rather than duplicating it.
• A shared infrastructure makes it easier for funders with different constraints to act together.

By establishing an investment infrastructure with shared tools, governance, and relationships now, funders and nonprofits alike will be better positioned to respond as rebuilding needs evolve. In the long term, this model could be applied to other potential crises facing the region, including climate-related disasters or displacement risks associated with major events such as the 2028 Olympic Games. The lessons we’re learning in launching this investor collaborative can inform how funders prepare for what comes next.

We can start now to improve how capital supports communities during rebuilding—helping residents remain in their communities and have a say in their future.

Photo credit: California Wellness Foundation