Publications and Articles
The following publications and articles related to program-related investments may be useful to you as you develop or maintain your PRI program.
Books
The PRI Directory: Charitable Loans and Other Program-Related Investing by Foundations
The Foundation Center.
Program-Related Investments: A Technical Manual for Foundations
Christie I. Baxter, 1997.
Program-Related Investing: Skills & Strategies for New PRI Funders
New from GrantCraft, this resource explores how PRIs can expand a foundation’s resources, sometimes as effectively as grants. Contributors suggest ways to get started, and offer insight into everything from explaining the concept to a board to structuring and closing the deal. Check out the guide and receive 20% off purchase of the printed version when you use this code in the online store: NFG20.
Economic Development: A Legal Guide for Grantmakers
Jane C. Nober, 2005, 125 pages, $59. Published by Council on Foundations, this guide provides an in-depth legal knowledge of charitable tax law, including implications for program-related investments.
Articles and Editorials
Capital With a Conscience: Private foundations must distinguish carefully their
investments’ purpose, character and strategy.
Jane M. Searing, Clark Nuber PS. 2008.
New Strategies for Leveraging Foundation Assets: There are many options, and the choices can seem overwhelming at times.
James P. Joseph and Andras Kosaras, Arnold and Porter LLP. July/August 2008.
How Grant Makers Can Curb Global Warming
Steve Viederman, Chronicle of Philanthropy, January 2008.
A Capital Idea: Total Foundation Asset Management and The Unified Investment Strategy
Jed Emerson, January 2002.
Blended Value Investing: Capital Opportunities for Social and Environmental Impact
World Economic Forum, March 2006. Researched and drafted by Jed Emerson, Generation Foundation, and Joshua Spitzer.
Charities Need More Investment Capital
Lester M. Salamon, August 2006.
Changing Capital Markets and Their Implications for Community Development Finance
Kirsten Moy, Alan Okagaki, July 2001.
CDFIs: Providing Capital, Building Communities, Creating Impact
Community Development Financial Institutions Data Project, 2004.
The Double Bottom Line: Competitive Advantage through Community Investment
Ford Foundation.
The Double Bottom Line: Ideas to Action
Philip Angelides, June 2001.
Foundation Trustees Need a New Investment Approach
Mark R. Kramer, Foundation Strategy Group, The Chronicle of Philanthropy, March 2006.
A New World Order: Jed Emerson's Capitalist Utopia. Can Social Value Reward Investors, Companies?
Jon Gertner, Money Magazine, October 2002.
Private Investment for Social Goals and the Blended Value Capital Market
(Discussion draft based on The Investors Toolkit by Jed Emerson, Timothy Freundlich and Shari Berenbach) Shari Berenbach and Jacqueline Khor, September 2004.
Mission-Related Investing
New Strategies for Leveraging Foundation Assets: There are many options, and the choices can seem overwhelming at times.
James P. Joseph and Andras Kosaras, Arnold and Porter LLP. July/August 2008.
Philanthropy’s New Passing Gear: Mission-Related Investing – A Policy and Implementation Guide for Foundation Trustees
February 2008 by Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors
A practical publication that can inform decisionmakers in philanthropy about how to move forward and implement an agenda for MRI in their institutions. With this guide, plus other research that has been collected on MRI, there is now a strong body of work that can provide donors, trustees, staff of foundations, and the tax, legal and financial advisors that support them, with the data and advice they need to add this component to the mission and work of their foundations.
Aggregating Impact: A Funder's Guide to Mission Investment Intermediaries
October 2007 by Mark Kramer and Sarah Cooch, FSG Social Impact Advisors
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. The authors provide an overview of mission investment intermediaries and how foundations use them, the benefits and challenges of investing in intermediaries, and an analysis of available intermediaries that address economic development, housing and the environment. Attached is a spreadsheet of intermediaries according to their program interests, in the hope that this information will be helpful to foundations interested in finding intermediaries that address their program goals and geographies.Mission Investment Intermediaries
Handbook on Responsible Investment Across Asset Classes
The Institute for Responsible Investment, Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship, November 2007. A new handbook on responsible investing provides the blueprint for foundation asset managers interested in multiplying their organization’s impact on society through options that link mission with investments that create long-term value to society. As investment in alternative asset classes (real estate, private equity, hedge funds, etc.) and the importance of diversification become increasingly accepted by pension funds, money managers, university and foundation endowments, and others, a question arises: How can investors identify and incorporate social and environmental information across their portfolios?
Case Study: Expanding Philanthropy -- Mission-Related Investing at the F.B. Heron Foundation
June 2007. Prepared by the Southern New Hampshire University's School of Community Economic Development, this case study explores the details of the F.B. Heron Foundation's rationale, exploration, and implementation of its mission-related investment strategy, and reviews the tools (including PRIs), specific investments, interim outcomes, and lessons learned.
Compounding Impact: Mission Investing by US Foundations
March 2007 by Sarah Cooch and Mark Kramer, FSG Social Impact Advisors
This study offers the first comprehensive look at the landscape of mission investing by US foundations. Mission investing – the practice of using financial investments as tools to achieve a foundation’s mission – is gaining momentum among US foundations. Mission investments’ annual growth rate averaged 16.2% in the last five years, compared to just 2.9% during the preceding 32 years. Over the past decade, the number of foundations engaging in mission investing has doubled, and the new funds invested annually have tripled.
Foundations and Mission-Related Investing
Stephen Viederman, August 2002. From The SRI Advantage: Why Socially Responsible Investing Has Outperformed Financially. Pages 205-212. Peter Camejo, author and editor. Gabriola Island, British Columbia, Canada: New Society Publishers.
Mission-Related Investing: Strategies for Philanthropic Institutions
Prepared by Investors' Circle for Northwest Area Foundation, 2001.
Mission-Related Investing: A Workshop for Foundations
Investors' Circle, 2003.
New Frontiers in Mission-Related Investing
Luther M. Ragin, Jr., The F.B. Heron Foundation, 2004.
Getting Started
Leveraging Your Assets with Loans and Other Program Related Investments (PRIs), published November 2007 by Association of Small Foundations (ASF). Small foundations are using PRI loans and other investments to enhance the power of their grantmaking, build capacity, and leverage the impact of their assets. Visit ASF Bookstore ($10 for ASF members, $15 for non-members) or contact Janice Simsohn Shaw
Program-Related Investments: A User-Friendly Guide
David S. Chernoff is Associate General Counsel of the Chicago-based John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. This article was adapted from a speech delivered at the 2005 Annual Conference of the Council on Foundations in San Diego, California. (The views and opinions expressed herein are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the MacArthur Foundation.)
Program-Related Investments: More Complicated Than Grants, But Worth Considering
Robert Jaquay in Shelterforce Online.
A Basic Guide to Program-Related Investments
Christie I. Baxter, 1997.
Matching Program Strategy and PRI Cost
Frances Brody, John Weiser, Scott Miller, Phyllis Joffe (editor).
Money Matters: The Structure, Operation and Challenges of Nonprofit Funding
Jed Emerson and Paul Carttar, The Bridgespan Group, January 2003.
Should We Consider a PRI? Basic Program-Related investment Criteria for Foundations and Nonprofit Organizations
Frances Brody, Christa Velasquez, 2002.
Where Money Meets Mission: Breaking Down the Firewall Between Foundation Investments and Programming
Jed Emerson, Stanford Social Innovation Review, Summer 2003.
Emerging Trends
Capital With a Conscience: Private foundations must distinguish carefully their
investments’ purpose, character and strategy.
Jane M. Searing, Clark Nuber PS. 2008.
Lawmakers Unveil the L3C, a New Vehicle for Socially Responsible Investing January 2008. Legislation has been introduced in both houses of the Vermont Legislature aimed at stimulating socially beneficial investment in Vermont and around the country. If enacted, the bills would allow for the creation of a new form of Limited Liability Company (LLC), known as the L3C, to enable non-profits and businesses to pool their resources to make socially beneficial investments. Robert Lang, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Mary Elizabeth and Gordon B. Mannweiler Foundation, has been promoting the use of L3C as a vehicle to promote the effective use of PRIs for a number of years. For more information, contact John Hollar, Director, Downs Rachlin Martin PLLC, 802-225-5500.
Mission Investing in Microfinance
Toolkit by Silk, Adler & Colvin (law firm specializing in non-profit organizations, San Francisco) and MicroCredit Enterprises, 2007.
Capital Structure Counts
Nonprofit Finance Fund, 2002.
Creating Capital, Jobs and Wealth in Emerging Domestic Markets
Glenn Yago, Betsy Zeidman and Bill Schmidt, Milken Institute, 2003.
Current Practices in PRI
Frances Brody, Kevin McQueen, Christa Velasquez, John Weiser, 2002.
The Double Bottom Line: Investing in California’s Emerging Markets
Philip Angelides, May 2000.
Five Years Later: Delivering on Both Bottom Lines
Philip Angelides, August 2005.
Foundations and Real Estate
Funder's Network for Smart Growth and Livable Communities, 2004.
Investing for Impact: Managing and Measuring Proactive Social Investments
Prepared for the Shell Foundation by Mark Kramer and Sarah Gooch, Foundation Strategy Group. January 2006.
Market-Based Solutions for Financing Philanthropy
Arthur Wood and Maximillian Martin, UBS Philanthropy Services, Philanthropy Forum 2006.
Minorities and Venture Capital: A New Wave in American Business
Timothy Bates and William Bradford, Kauffman Foundation, 2003.
New Directions in Fiduciary Responsibility
Stephen Viederman. CCH Incorporated Newsletter, 2003.
New Pathways to Scale for Community Development Finance
Gregory A. Ratliff, Kirsten S. Moy, December 2004.
RISE Capital Market Report
Catherine H. Clark, Josie Taylor Gaillard, 2003.