Announcing Our New Mission Possible Series in SSIR
As part of our efforts to share and elevate our members’ great work, Mission Investors Exchange has teamed up with Stanford Social Innovation Review to publish a new series that begins today. The Mission Possible: How Foundations are Shaping the Future of Impact Investing series will focus on foundations’ leadership role in the rapidly expanding impact investing landscape. Eleven leading foundations – all MIE members – will describe what’s next in impact investing for their organizations and the broader field. These firsthand accounts will explore the new tools, on-ramps, and cross-sector partnerships that are growing the field and producing greater social and environmental impact.
In the introduction to the series, I lay out why foundations are critical to driving the expansion of impact investing:
“As more and more institutions deploy impact investing to meet today’s challenges, foundations are uniquely positioned to take the lead. First and foremost, they are experienced; foundations have engaged in “mission investing,” or “social investing,” for decades—long before the term “impact investing” originated. Foundations also have a deep understanding of and fundamental commitment to social impact. In addition, they can often provide more flexible, risk-tolerant, and patient capital than other types of investors. Indeed, foundations are increasingly using their catalytic capital to de-risk individual investments or markets, and attract other types of investors—including those from the private sector and government—who can bring much greater resources to bear. This leveraging of fellow investors is accelerating impact investing’s potential to drive big change.”
The first member article will be published this Thursday, January 19 by Carol Larson, President and CEO of the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. Each week following will feature a new contributor, including:
From left to right:
Matt Bannick, Omidyar Network; Jean Case, Case Foundation; Jesse Fink, The Fink Family Foundation; Carol Larson, The David and Lucile Packard Foundation
Patrick McCarthy, Annie E. Casey Foundation; Clara Miller, Heron; Rip Rapson, The Kresge Foundation; Kelly Ryan, Incourage
Julia Stasch, MacArthur Foundation; Darren Walker, Ford Foundation; Kate Wolford, McKnight Foundation
My article and those of the contributors will reflect on four important and related themes central to the increased sophistication and growth of the field:
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It’s not just “either-or” anymore: navigating the spectrum of risk, return, and impact
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Leveraging dollars and making markets
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More than money: putting all available capital to work
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Building the broader ecosystem
We hope this series will highlight for impact investing stakeholders – and the broader public – the central role of foundations in driving the success of the field. And we hope the compelling insights from these foundation leaders will help each of you develop new tools and achieve greater impact in your own practice.
In that spirit, Mission Investors Exchange has many other exciting things in store for 2017, including Mission Investing Institutes for new and advanced practitioners across the country, a series of webinars on timely topics, and member-only opportunities to share and collaborate on the latest deal flow. Information to renew or start a membership will arrive soon so you can be sure not to miss anything. We hope you’ll join us to share in the benefits of membership and to expand the impact of Mission Investors Exchange.
