The premise behind impact investing is simple. Make loans or investments that tackle pressing problems – and at the same time deliver a financial return. Foundations and nonprofits are excited by impact investing’s potential to unlock more money for social good, but they’ve also learned that doing impact investing well is challenging.
This toolkit contains some of our best reporting and tools on how foundations and nonprofits are using impact investing to pursue their missions.
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Big GivingMacKenzie Scott’s Foray Into Impact Investing
The ‘Oprah of Philanthropy’ is putting an undisclosed amount of her fortune into companies and funds that provide social and financial returns. Will impact investing see a new boom? -
Opinion
An Open Letter to MacKenzie Scott: Six Steps to Ensure Your For-Profit Investments Do the Most Good
Launching a successful impact investment program isn’t easy, as Scott may find. These strategies can help. -
Finances
Many ‘Impact Investors’ Don’t Track Whether Their Investments Are Good for Society or the Environment
Many just assume that certain businesses, such as solar energy companies, are inherently good for society rather than seeking information that might point to shortcomings in social performance. -
Finance and Revenue
Impact Investing Is On the Rise, With a Big Foundation’s $325 Million Commitment
Robert Wood Johnson’s specialists look to generate both social and financial returns. -
News
More Foundations and Charities See Impact Investing as Key to Social Change
Commercial giants like Goldman Sachs and BlackRock are the big players in a burgeoning field, but philanthropic institutions increasingly view their investments as tools to tackle the world’s toughest problems. -
Advice
Impact Investing for Beginners: Advice From Experts
Foundation and nonprofit leaders share lessons learned from investments designed to reap social as well as financial gains. -
News
Inside the Ford Foundation’s Billion-Dollar Gamble
Fifteen years after putting money from its program budget into Tesla as part of its environmental and economic-development strategy, the foundation is staking a hefty chunk of its endowment on similarly mission-focused investments. -
News
Impact-Investing Pioneers Take Stock and Adjust Course
For more than a decade, the Heron and Northwest Area foundations have invested their endowments with the goal of spurring social good. They’re drawing on lessons learned to tweak their approaches. -
News
Will the Rise of Impact Investing Leave Less for Gifts and Grants?
Some donors say the strategy is changing how they give in powerful ways; others doubt that it can displace traditional philanthropy, especially with causes like feeding the hungry. -
News
Foundation CEOs Struggle to Boost Mission Investing
The pressure for strong financial returns continues to overshadow efforts to do good by reallocating portfolios. -
Advice
Community Foundations Pursue Impact Investments to Build Local Economies
Case studies show community grant makers investing some assets in local enterprises, rather than on Wall Street, to achieve both social and financial returns. -
News
Nonprofit Uses Creative Impact Investing to Stem Foreclosures
New Jersey Community Capital buys pools of troubled mortgages at a discount and then modifies the loans to help homeowners. Vacant properties or converted to affordable housing. -
Opinion
7 Myths About Social-Impact Investing Keep Grant Makers From a Good Thing
It isn’t just for start-up companies. It can take the form of a loan to a nonprofit health clinic or to an arts group learning how to deal with debt.
