Giving Compass' Take:

• Katherina M. Rosqueta from the Center of High Impact Philanthropy discusses the importance of staying true to one's values in the realm of family giving.

• Those involved in family foundation strategy must always look for the wisest investments, but this is a useful reminder that mission still prevails above all else.

• Here's how to expand your comfort zone and embrace risk in family philanthropy.

For many families, philanthropic giving is an explicit way to align wealth with deeply held values. At the Center for High Impact Philanthropy, we see more families concerned not only with how their giving can achieve greater impact but also with how their financial investments align with their values and social impact goals.

Sometimes, families discover misalignment unexpectedly. This is what happened to Rita, the president of her family’s foundation. Reflecting the family’s deep commitment to women and children’s health, the foundation’s grants included efforts to ensure access to gynecological care and contraceptives for low-income women in the US and abroad. But when Rita examined how the foundation invested its endowment, she found that her team was using the investment guidelines of Catholic Bishops. While consistent with her family’s other values related to peace, environmental sustainability, and civil rights, that particular set of guidelines prohibits investments in companies that manufacture or sell contraceptives — the very thing to which the foundation’s grants were trying to ensure access.

Aligning financial investments with values and social impact goals is not new.

What is relatively new is the growing number of tools, resources, and education opportunities available to families seeking to align their financial investments with their values.

Read the full article about aligning social goals with investing by Katherina M. Rosqueta from the Center of High Impact Philanthropy (via FFI Practitioner).