Grantmaking Strategy and Evaluation

Does Mission- Related Investing Need to Become Mainstream Before it is Considered Acceptable?

Posted on October 9, 2014 by John Hawkins, Tomer Inbar

Do legal constructs based on the prudent caution of an ordinary person in a similar position imply that mission- related investing must become mainstream before becoming acceptable, a chicken-and-egg, Catch- 22? [Author: Tomer Inbar and John Hawkins] Tomer Inbar: You should think about your portfolio as a whole, how this class of assets fits in, and make sure that, overall,… Read More

Are There Any Easy, Less Labor- Intensive Options for Dipping Your Toes in the Water with Mission Investing?

Posted on October 9, 2014 by Tony Wells

Are there any less labor-intensive options for dipping your toes in the water of mission investing? Utilizing the services that Mission Investors Exchange offers is a great option for dipping your toes in the water. At the Wells Foundation, even though we’ve been doing this for some time, it’s been an incredible relationship with MIE and a tremendous value for… Read More

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

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