After conducting a search for resources related to program-related, mission-related, and impact investing, we identified some major resources in the field, going as far back to the Ford Foundation’s initial report on Program-Related Investments to the more recent video clips and presentations at the Take Action Summit. Here is an interactive view of the various resources we discovered relevant to the question at hand (to browse in timeline view, I would suggest the View in Dipity->Fullscreen option):
Here is that same information presented in a Google Doc, with an additional tab for relevant websites:
Suffice to say, there is an incredible amount of research that deals with the intersection of philanthropy, nonprofits, social enterprise, and capital markets. But as FSG Social Impact Advisors noted in Compounding Impact: Mission Investing by U.S. Foundations:
…nearly 40% of all foundations said that an absence of staff expertise in mission investing is constraining their activity. Particularly lacking are general financial skills, especially among program officers, and knowledge of mission investing approaches and theory. Foundations in the $50 million to $200 million range, which have seen the greatest recent growth in mission investing, noted this barrier more often than other foundations.
How well equipped do you think foundations are to engage in integrated or leveraged mission investing, as described in The Power of Strategic Mission Investing? Are there other reports or resources not listed above that we should be reading? If so, please let us know by leaving us a comment below or emailing tony [at] blueprintrd [dot] com.
Stay tuned for our next post, which will define some of the key terms and frameworks of mission investing and total foundation asset management that will help us begin to answer the question of “What Capital When?”
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