Giving Compass' Take:

• Philanthropists at the Philanthropy Transforming Finance: Building an Impact Economy summit issued a call to action for philanthropists, encouraging engagement in impact investing and outlining steps for new investors. 

• How can funders begin to move their assets into impact investments? 

• Read an impact investing primer for family foundations


Impact Entrepreneur Center and Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors have produced a report on their recent international leadership summit, Philanthropy Transforming Finance: Building an Impact Economy. The summit drew four dozen individuals from three continents who are leaders across the themes of systems thinking, philanthropy, impact investing and "new economy" models.

The participants challenged philanthropists and philanthropic organizations to:

  • Commit a minimum of 1% of total assets (grants and investments) towards building the coordinated infrastructure, scaffolding and architecture of the impact economy.
  • Use an integrated finance model via grants or social impact investing, among other mechanisms, to expend the capital raised.
  • Support and follow a roadmap of how to deploy philanthropic dollars, including de-risking investment, thought leadership, education and training, policy and infrastructure, internal talent and culture, data and industry mapping, and building a pre-investment pipeline of early stage social enterprises.
  • Use donor advised funds as a source of capital for these efforts.
  • Supply more risk-tolerant funding for early stage initiatives, and embrace a spirit of experimentation and innovation. The institutions and individuals in philanthropy should become more entrepreneurial, which constitutes a radical change in the culture of many organizations and individuals in the sector.

Read the full article about engaging in impact investing by Anne Field at Impact Entrepreneur.