Values-aligned investing, mission investing, and PRIs

What is the Biggest Danger or Red Light to Think About with Regard to Mission Investing?

Posted on October 9, 2014 by Melanie Audette, Tomer Inbar, Tony Wells

What, if anything, is the biggest danger or red light to think about with regard to mission investing? And how do we avoid them? Tony Wells: Before going into the red lights of mission investing, it is worth mentioning that in nine years of mission investing at the Wells Foundation there has been a 100% return on our non-profit loans… Read More

How Does the Divesting Strategy Work Within Mission Investing, and How Do We Evaluate Its Success?

Posted on October 9, 2014 by Melanie Audette

DivestInvest  is a national movement that has signatories looking at divestment of fossil fuels from their portfolio. There are 64 foundations signed on at the DivestInvest.org website and there are resources about divestment strategies there, as well. At the same time, it’s just as important, if not more so, to look at opportunities to invest in alternative strategies for energy… Read More

How do you measure impact or potential impact when deciding how to be most effective?

Posted on October 9, 2014 by Melanie Audette, Tomer Inbar, Tony Wells

How do you measure impact or potential impact when deciding how to be most effective, particularly when comparing the strategy of maximizing investment returns to having more money for grants versus impact investing? Melanie Audette:This starts with where you are in the process. You should think about your mission and how you are evaluating your grants, and take the same… Read More

What Are Recoverable Grants?

Posted on October 9, 2014 by Tony Wells

Recoverable grants may be used to address concerns of non-profit boards that are hesitant to take on any type of debt. Some boards may have a policy that they’re not willing to take on debt, no matter what the upside is. We’ve had several situations where we became creative with our approach. We would say, “Okay, we really believe in… Read More

How Can I Help My Board Members Understand the Long- Term Nature of Impact Investing?

Posted on October 9, 2014 by Tomer Inbar, Tony Wells

Tomer Inbar: To start with a short anecdote, a client of mine and I were talking about their first program-related investment (PRI) that was going to go under. Although they had a successful program-related investment portfolio, she had to go to the investment committee where her PRIs were managed and tell them that they believed that this company was going… Read More

Impact Investing 2.0: The Way Forward

Posted on November 8, 2013 by Ben Thornley, Brenna Mccallick, Cathy Clark, Christopher Cox, Colby Dailey, Daniel Brett, Jed Emerson

But for every pioneer blazing a path forward in impact investing, there are many others waiting at the sidelines.They have indicated they need more robust data about the field’s track record. Equally if not more important, they are waiting for a clear vision of what success looks like. What reasonable combinations of social and financial returns can be expected in diverse segments of the industry?… Read More

Communty Foundation Field Guide to Impact Investing

Posted on September 1, 2013 by Mission Investors Exchange

Community foundations serve people who share a common interest—improving the quality of life in their local areas. Given their place-based focus and commitment to activate resources to meet their missions, more and more community foundations are adding impact investments to their toolbox. Unlike grants, impact investments intend to generate both targeted social or environmental benefit and a financial return. To… Read More

Impact Investing and Family Philanthropy: a One-Two Punch

Posted on July 12, 2012 by Julia Balandina Jaquier

Interest in impact investing among wealth holders, their foundations, and family offices continues to grow. As a means for providing capital to for-profit ventures with a social mission, impact investing is increasingly viewed as an effective solution for combining the philanthropic aspirations of wealthy families with their financial objectives… Read More

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