Having amassed his own considerable fortune, first in technology and then in venture capital, the 43-year-old Alexandre Mars is employing those tools and that business mindset in his philanthropic pursuits.

Enter Epic Foundation. Since its launch in 2014, Epic has grown to represent three dozen youth-focused organizations in seven parts of the world, from the U.S. to Hong Kong, from Brazil to India.

With a vigorous vetting process and monthly reporting, Epic feels more like a venture capital fund than a group of like-minded charities.

Each year Mars and his team spend several months narrowing the applicant pool of thousands of charitable organizations, looking at 15 factors in each of three stages, which yields 45 data points.

They then do intensive research on, and site visits to, the finalists. In 2017, out of 3,500 applications analyzed, only eight made the cut.

In classic investor fashion, Mars says he is waiting to see what his multiple will be—five times his investment, perhaps more—but the real goal he has set for himself is far less quantifiable: to make giving the norm.

Read the full article on charity ROI by Elizabeth Holmes at Town and Country