Investment Resources: Articles, Reports, White Papers

Articles

Foundations align investments with their charitable goals
Charles Piller; Los Angeles Times; Dec. 29, 2007
Summarizes the efforts of multiple Foundations who are initiating and/or strengthening efforts to harmonize the social and environmental effect of their endowment investments with their philanthropic goals.

For Money Managers, A Smarter Approach to Social Responsibility
Carolyn Cui; The Wall Street Journal; Nov. 5, 2007
Elaborates on trends that seem to bring together methods of socially responsible investors with those of more mainstream investors; explores formulas that investment managers and analysts are developing which take into account such issues as executive pay, carbon emissions, and workplace gender diversity.

Gates Foundation should invest its money where its heart is
Paul Rogat Loeb; The Seattle Times August 21st, 2007
Describes the missed significant opportunity of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation of not aligning the foundation’s investment commitments with its larger social goals.

Creating Social Capital Markets for Fourth Sector Organizations: Opportunities and Challenges
Forum at Google in NYC; June 2007
Describes the results of a roundtable that the Aspen Institute and the Fourth Sector Network, in partnership with the Calvert Social Investment Foundation and the Case Foundation brought together to discuss new developments in social capital markets.

Warren Buffet and Darfur
Marc Gunther; Fortune April 2007
Explores the question of ‘Could Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway be helping to support genocide in Darfur?’

Remarks by Victor De Luca
Victor De Luca, President, Jessie Smith Noyes Foundation; April 2007
A passionate and compelling argument to invest in companies which integrate a set of social and environmental values in their business decisions.

Dark cloud over good works of Gates Foundation
Charles Piller, Edmund Sander, and Robyn Dixon; LA Times January 7, 2007
Related Link (About this series): (http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-gateswebboxdec12,0,5929713.story?coll=la-headlines-nation) A focus on the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and what the LA Times perceived as a disconnect between the philanthropic mission of the foundation and its investment policies.

Ethics-based investing
LA Times January 7, 2007
Short article comparing the performance of multiple "ethics-based" funds and asserts that, “After controlling for investment style we find little evidence of significant differences in risk-adjusted returns between ethical and conventional funds.”

Millions for Millions
Connie Bruck; The New Yorker; Oct. 2006
A fascinating description of the outcome of a private get-together between Professor Mohammed Yunus, Sergey Brin and Larry Page, Pierre Omidyar and others at John Doerr’s house in Silicon Valley, interwoven with a general description of trends in microfinance.

The Business of Giving
Matthew Bishop; The Economist; Feb. 2006
As philanthropy is flourishing with the number of super-rich people growing exponentially, this article explores how new donors are becoming much more businesslike about the way their money is used. It provides a comprehensive update on trends and examples of this new type of philanthropy.

Primers

Mission Investing in Microfinance: A program Related Investment (PRI) Primer and Toolkit
Jonathan C. Lewis, Robert A. Wexler; MicroCredit Enterprises; July 2007
A Primer and Toolkit covering the basic policy, financial and legal issues concerning mission or program related investing in microfinance.

Mission-Related Investing for Foundations and Non-Profit Organizations – Practical tools for mission / investment integration
Trillium Asset Management Corporation
Introduction of mission-related investing, and discussion of: why Mission Related Investments; Mission Related Investments and investment performance; Mission Related Investment toolkit; getting from here to there - the change process; how Trillium Asset Management Corporation can help; resources and glossary of terms.

Reports

Mission-Related Investing: Philanthropy's New Passing Gear – A Policy and Implementation Guide for Foundation Trustees.
Steven Godeke & Doug Bauer; Godeke Consulting and Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors; January 2008
Provides foundation trustees and, where appropriate, staff with a process to both create an overall policy for mission related investing as well as specific paths for implementation. We expect this report to be published on RPA's Web site in March 2008.

Aggregating Impact: A Funder’s Guide to Mission Investment Intermediaries
Sarah Cooch and Mark Kramer; FSG Social Impact Advisors; November 2007
Focuses on intermediaries – ranging from community development finance institutions to screened equity funds and venture capital firms – that raise and invest capital with the intention of achieving both social impact and financial returns.

From Fragmentation to Function: Critical concepts and writings on social capital market's structure, operation, and innovation
Jed Emerson, Joshua Spitzer; Skoll Center For Social Etrepreneurship; Working Paper; October 2007
A study presenting fundamental concepts in order to offer a baseline framework, which is then used to explore specific aspects and issues related to the social capital market discourse, including highlights of select initiatives underway in early 2007. The report concludes by framing several research and action steps.

The Power of Strategic Mission Investing
Mark R. Kramer and Sarah E. Cooch; Fall 2007 Stanford Social Innovation Review
Argues that most mission investing remains haphazard and inconsequential; makes the case that foundations need to take a fundamentally different approach, making strategic mission investments that complement their grant making and leverage market forces.

New Horizons: creating value, enabling livelihoods
Forum for the Future; June 2007
A discussion on opportunities in microfinance for the UK financial services sector.

Compounding Impact: Mission Investing by US Foundations
Sarah Cooch & Mark Kramer, FSG; April 2007
The first comprehensive look at the landscape of mission investing by US foundations.

Mission Stewardship: Aligning programs, investments, and administration to achieve impact
William M. Dietel; Chair; The F.B. Heron Foundation; 2007
A comprehensive overview of F.B. Heron’s approach towards mission investments.

Proxy Season Preview: Helping Foundations Align Mission and Investment
Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, 2007
Provides a thorough and useful source of information to help foundations identify shareholder proposals and vote their proxies in an informed manner.

Assessing and Managing PRI Risk: Nothing Ventured Nothing Gained
Neil Carlson; Grantcraft 2007.
GrantCraft asks five experienced PRI makers how they think about risk, how they weigh and balance different sorts of risk, and how they mitigate risk in their PRI portfolios.

2006 Fearless Forecast: What do investment managers think about responsible investment?
Jane Ambachtsheer; Mercer Investment Consulting, 2006
Captures investment managers’ economic and capital market expectations for 2006; shares the views of 157 investment management firms from around the world on, “responsible investments, which include environmental, social and corporate governance factors.”

Program Related Investing – Skills & Strategies for new PRI Funders
Neil Carlson; GrantCraft 2006
Experienced funders of program related investments explain why Program Related Investments are a valued addition to their strategic repertoire.

Blended Value Investment Capital Opportunities for Social and Environmental Impact
Jed Emerson, Generation Foundation, Joshua Spitzer; World Economic Forum, March 2006
An exploration of how 'Blended Value Investing', as distinct from either market-rate investing or philanthropy, can leverage economic performance while also creating social and/or environmental value within a single, unified approach to investing and capital finance.

Blended Value Map
Jed Emerson & Sheila Bonini; William and Flora Hewlett Foundation; 2003
An exploration of the intersection and opportunities of economic, social, and environmental value creation.

White Papers

Microfinance: An Emerging Asset Class for Equity and Debt Investors:
Marco Coppoolse; August 2007
An analysis of nine leading microfinance institutions in nine countries with significant microfinance industries.

Modern Portfolio Theory – with a Twist: The New Efficient Frontier
Brian Dunn; Aquillian Investments, Inc.; August 2006
An introduction to a third dimension of Risk and Return: Impact – the benefits that one can receive from investing in the social good.