Accessible Capital, Lasting Impact: Get to know the One Pierce Social Impact Fund

In Tacoma’s historic Hilltop neighborhood, a long-awaited milestone in affordable housing was recently celebrated with the opening of the Shiloh New Life Apartments, a 60-unit development offering safe, stable homes to individuals and families earning up to half of the area’s median income (pictured above).

With dedicated units for veterans and people with disabilities, the facility represents a meaningful step toward inclusive, community-centered housing in Pierce County. Among the earliest investments in the nearly $34 million development was a low-interest pre-development loan from a fund called One Pierce.

The same fund helped expand the only cooperative preschool in Key Peninsula’s “childcare desert.” And it also recently helped open the doors to the Asia Pacific Cultural Center’s new headquarters, fund the construction of Emergency Food Network’s new storage warehouse, and support the installation of sustainable solar panels at the Tacoma Community House.

An initiative of Elevate Health, One Pierce offers low-barrier, low-interest financing to community-based organizations serving communities throughout Pierce County.

Qualifying organizations gain fast, low-barrier access to capital through the One Pierce fund—an increasingly rare form of responsive financing in the nonprofit sector. Traditional funders often can't move quickly enough to meet urgent needs, yet this kind of flexible capital is essential. One Pierce loans can support program expansion, facility improvements, and even day-to-day operations during gaps in primary funding sources.

“Many organizations we work with are BIPOC-run or community-based organizations that have been historically excluded from finance opportunities,” explains Lauren Fulton, an impact investment consultant who has helped guide One Pierce since it began operations in 2019. “Yet these are organizations serving communities in need.” 

It’s this underserved market that One Pierce is designed to uplift. Since launching, the fund has disbursed over $16 million—primarily in the form of loans—fueling innovation, growth, and investment across Pierce County’s health and wellness ecosystem. These loans help organizations build financial resilience and sophistication, while addressing a critical funding gap with a bold, equity-driven approach to social impact investing.

Process & Partnership

Members of the One Pierce team understand the loan-application process can be a daunting prospect for many small organizations. “That’s why, with One Pierce, the loan application and repayment process work like a partnership,” says Kevin Atimango, Elevate Health’s community loan portfolio manager. Atimango works with borrowers from initial application to repayment structures.

To kick start the process, prospective borrowers complete an interest form, which is followed by a preliminary funding conversation with the One Pierce team. Basic qualifications are straightforward — the organization must maintain paid staff for operations, produce financial statements, and help to address social determinants of health (conditions that can influence everyday health and life expectancy).

“First-time borrowers are often not sure if a loan is right for them, and we need to be responsible and responsive to their concerns about whether or not this is something that can help them grow,” Fulton says. 

Once a nonprofit is approved to continue the process, the One Pierce team designs a financing plan to meet that nonprofit’s unique needs, helping them understand how to borrow successfully.

Flexible & Collaborative

Nonprofit organizations, especially smaller or newly established organizations, frequently face a variety of obstacles to traditional funding sources. These obstacles can include high interest rates, inflexible repayment options, and exorbitant fees. 

One Pierce works to nullify these barriers by working closely with borrowers and walking them through the process. The low costs of a One Pierce loan also help make repayment more manageable: the fund only charges a 2 percent interest rate for disbursed funds and a 1 percent upfront fee. 

One Pierce loans are typically available within four to six weeks and can be tailored to meet a wide range of funding needs. The most common offering is a bridge loan—a short-term solution that helps organizations manage cash flow until more permanent funding becomes available, such as grants, capital campaign proceeds, or delayed government disbursements. Additional financing options include lines of credit, loans for facilities and equipment, outcomes-based financing, and support for growth and expansion initiatives.

Thus far in 2025, nine organizations have borrowed $3.81 million from One Pierce, and 11 loans are currently active. Loan terms range from just a few months to 24 or more months, with flexible repayment plans. “We don't make repayment a punitive process,” Fulton says. “We're on the same side.” 

One Pierce boasts a repayment record that sets it apart: every nonprofit borrower who has taken out a loan has either fully repaid or is making progress on loan repayment. Those repayments are reinvested into the fund, fueling future rounds of impact-driven lending. “That allows for sustainability in a way that grant programs might not be as sustainable,” Fulton explains.

“At the end of the day, One Pierce is working to make Pierce County’s health and wellness ecosystem strong,” concludes Atimango. “We want more organizations to have what they need to grow and sustain their work so that more people in Pierce County can thrive.”

ABOUT THE WRITER: Lora Shinn is a Seattle-based freelance writer and editor specializing in healthcare, insurance, personal finance, and travel writing for online and print publications, businesses, and nonprofits.