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Mark Kramer and Anne Stetson
U.S foundations have considerable freedom to invest their assets in ways that further their missions, even at greater risk or lower financial return. The legal framework that governs the investment of foundation assets is both complex and ambiguous, however, with the result being that many foundation leaders and investment advisors are unclear about what is legally permissible. Authors Anne Stetson and Mark Kramer have prepared two reports, a brief guide and a more comprehensive version, in consultation with nationally-recognized legal experts and senior foundation officers, analyzing the federal tax and state fiduciary laws as they apply to US foundations. In addition to legal analysis, the reports provide practical recommendations as to how foundations can best navigate these laws in making mission-related or program-related investments.
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Mark Kramer and Sarah Cooch
This report provides a guide to mission investment intermediaries, organizations that collect capital from multiple sources and reinvest it in people and enterprises, whether nonprofit or for-profit, that deliver both social impact and financial returns. A growing number of foundations and other funders are beginning to use such intermediaries versus making mission investments directly. This is due to a number of advantages that intermediaries can provide, such as ease of investment, reduced risk, lower transaction costs, specialized expertise, performance reporting, and an expanded deal flow. Yet our research disclosed that many funders are unaware of the wide range of mission investment intermediaries that are available and of the advantages they can offer.
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Mark Kramer and Sarah Cooch
A growing number of foundations are offering low-interest loans, buying into green business ventures, and investing in other asset classes to advance their missions. Yet most mission investing remains haphazard and inconsequential. To bring about real change, foundations need to take a fundamentally different approach, making strategic mission investments that complement their grantmaking. Authors Mark Kramer and Sarah Cooch talk about strategic mission investing in the Fall 2007 issue of Stanford Social Innovation Review.
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Sarah Cooch
This recently published report provides the first comprehensive analysis of mission investing by U.S. foundations. The study, funded by The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, analyzes the mission investment activity of 92 U.S. foundations, which have made a combined total of $2.3 billion of mission investments. Mission investing is a more specific type of social investing, and represents the use of financial investments as tools to achieve a foundation’s mission.
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Mark Kramer and Sarah Cooch
This 2006 study, commissioned by the Shell Foundation, and conducted by FSG, describes an important and growing new source of capital that offers both societal and financial benefits.
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Greg Hills
Corporations should consider supplementing traditional grantmaking with targeted investments in for-profit entities that address social problems and drive economic development.
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