Philanthropy’s Little Secret: An Article on Foundations and Impact Investing

According to the Foundation Center, about 86,000 charitable foundations hold more than $890 billion in assets. In 2015, they gave out a total of $62.8 billion, averaging 7 percent across the industry. 

 

This article, published in Yes! Magazine, discusses the shift in the philanthropic sector toward impact investing. Surfacing examples from MIE members Heron Foundation, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and Ford Foundation, the article higlights how foundations are looking closely at their missions, and ensuring that their investments are closely aligned with those missions. The article also discusses the role of Mission Investors Exchange in supporting the field of impact investing by providing foundations with the tools, resources and network to grow their impact investing practices.

 

This article was also referenced by Nonprofit Quarterly in a column by Martin Levine, which makes the case for foundations to make impact investments from their endowments. In this column the Levine cites Mission Investors Exchange CEO Matt Onek, Heron Foundation President Dana Bezerra, and Ford Foundation’s Director of Mission Investments Roy Swan on the multiple ways foundations can commit to and ultimately invest more than a mandated five percent of a foundation's corpus toward mission.