Foundations occupy a unique role in the financial and nonprofit marketplaces. They generally seek to preserve if not grow their corpus and advance their public charity mission; they invest in the market for financial returns and in nonprofits for social return.

More and more, these functions are finding common ground through using a foundation’s investment portfolio to further the charitable mission of the foundation while still achieving a financial return. The uptake has been inconsistent, yet the lessons learned from those who have done so offer much for the field and the larger financial marketplace, especially in terms of advancing, measuring, and managing social impacts. This issue of The Foundation Review represents a step toward sharing those lessons with the field.

There are many individuals and organizations working as practitioners and advocates for impact investing. We hope this issue contributes to developing the knowledge base needed to support practice.

Read the full article about impact investing by Teri Behrens at Dorothy A. Johnson Center.