New Guide Helps Small Foundations Expand Impact Investing

A trio of philanthropy groups has released a new resource guide designed to make impact investing more accessible to small foundations.

Essentials of Impact Investing: a Guide for Small-Staffed Foundations, which is free to download, aims to increase awareness about the use of impact investing, provide technical guidance, and expand the number of groups aligning their investments with their missions.

The guide, produced by Exponent Philanthropy, Mission Investors Exchange, and Arabella Advisors, offers practical tips, frequently asked questions and answers, case studies featuring small foundations that have had success investing different kinds of capital for social good, and additional resources to help foundations get started.

While a recent Center for Effective Philanthropy study found that less than half of private foundations use impact investing, the market is expected to grow, especially among younger, high-net-worth individuals.

Foundations in the United States control $798 billion, the guide says, capital that could be used to exert social change. The impact-investing market stands to grow to as big as $1 trillion by 2020.

Small foundations, according to the new resource guide, are “better positioned than larger foundations to deploy a greater portion of their resources in support of mission and goals.”