The Kresge Foundation and John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation are sponsoring a project designed to improve the ability of cities to attract and deploy socially motivated investment capital at scale. This paper is part of an ongoing series of publications on capital absorption, resulting from the work of Robin Hacke, a senior fellow at Kresge; David Wood, director of the Initiative for Responsible Investment at the Hauser Institute for Civil Society at Harvard University; and Marian Urquilla at Strategy Lift.