How Philanthropy Can Catalyze Private Investment in Opportunity Zones

The U.S. Department of the Treasury expects Opportunity Zones to unlock well over $100 billion in private investment in low-wealth communities across the United States. The tax incentive, which became law as part of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, seeks to encourage patient capital investments in more than 8,700 designated census tracts across the country by permitting investors to reinvest capital gains in designated census tracts in exchange for tax benefits.

Public Private Strategies, an organization that partners with foundations, associations, corporations, small businesses, and entrepreneurs to solve pressing societal challenges, outlines six ways of how philanthropy can step up and help shape the Opportunity Zone landscape so that benefits of the legislation also accrue to longtime residents and businesses.