Building connection through investment

November 9, 2025

By La Crosse Community Foundation

LACF’s first social impact investment in Haven on Main is helping create inclusive housing — and a stronger, more connected La Crosse

Community is built in the spaces where lives intersect — where people find common ground and begin to understand one another. La Crosse Area Community Foundation exists to make those intersections possible. Every initiative we support is about strengthening connection, especially among people whose paths might not otherwise cross.

That’s why our first social impact investment supports Haven on Main, a 70-unit inclusive housing development taking shape in downtown La Crosse. It reflects both our values and our vision — a community where everyone belongs, and where connection is built into the way we live.

What is social impact investing?

Social impact investing gives LACF another way to live its mission. It uses charitable capital not only to support good ideas but to move them forward faster — bridging the gap between community need and available resources.

Unlike traditional grants, which are designed to be spent once, social impact investments are structured to be repaid. Those funds are then reinvested locally, creating a cycle of renewal. But the true value of this approach lies in how it works: it builds partnership. It allows LACF to share both the responsibility and the reward of making lasting change.

Through this approach, we can help bring ambitious community efforts — like inclusive housing, workforce development, and neighborhood revitalization — from idea to impact. It’s a way to align financial stewardship with values, ensuring the same dollars that sustain our endowment also drive visible, long-term progress across La Crosse County.

Why Haven on Main

Our $508,000 investment is part of the more than $20 million needed to bring Haven on Main to life. Located near downtown amenities and public transportation, the development will offer affordable, accessible housing designed for people with and without disabilities to live side by side.

This is far more than a construction project. It’s a model for belonging — a way to bridge social capital and create connection across differences. Too often, people with disabilities are separated by systems or by assumptions. Haven on Main challenges that pattern by centering inclusion, dignity, and everyday human connection.

When people share space, they share life. Neighbors connect. Friendships form. Understanding grows. Those are the returns that don’t appear on a balance sheet but define the strength of a community.

The return on investment

Our investment produces two kinds of returns: one financial and one relational. The financial return will allow LACF to reinvest in future projects that strengthen our region. The relational return is far greater: a community that grows more inclusive, more compassionate, and more connected.

This dual return — dollars and relationships — is what social impact investing is about. It complements traditional grantmaking and ensures every charitable resource entrusted to LACF contributes to lasting, systemic change.

Investing in what connects us

While social impact investing is fundamentally a financial tool, it’s also a significant social tool. It’s a way to live out the conviction that community grows strongest when opportunity is shared.

By aligning resources with mission, LACF is helping shape a La Crosse where everyone has a place — and where connection itself becomes the measure of success.

Haven on Main is only the beginning. As we continue to invest for impact, our goal remains constant: to build a community where all people can live, work, and, most of all, belong.