Report: Using the entire toolbox for impact
New Impact Europe report outlines how foundations can use all the tools at their disposal to increase their impact.
Where do philanthropic organisations fall along the continuum of capital, and how do they use their entire toolbox of financial and non-financial resources? This the main focus of a new report from Impact Europe and Philea.
Source: Impact Europe.
Philanthropic organisations have a great role to play when it comes to achieving and generating positive social change. Foundations can move along the continuum of capital, adopting diverse strategies and benefitting from an extensive toolbox of non-financial and financial resources from their programme activities and the investments of their endowments.
Philanthropic organisations can deploy grants with a catalytic mindset, but they can also use repayable financial instruments and/or invest their endowment with social and/or environmental purposes.
When it comes to repayable finance and impact investing, some philanthropic organisations are already important players in the ecosystem in Europe, and more philanthropic players are showing interest in entering the space.
For those entering this space, there is a growing realisation that involvement in impact investing may offer a chance to build on their organisational and social and environmental impact. On the one hand, philanthropic organisations are seeing opportunities to expand their toolbox by incorporating impact investing approaches into their grantmaking capacity. On the other, a wider societal shift in expectations for investments of their endowments to create more than financial returns has led to a growing interest in this area amongst philanthropic organisations when investing their endowments. Several foundations have also taken a new strategic direction to take a holistic approach towards their programme and endowment investing side.
The report was written by Boncerto’s Peter Cafferkey alongside Alessia Gianoncelli, Hanna Hanses, and Hanna Surmatz. He said: “I’m delighted to share this new report with the Boncerto network. Although focused on foundations and how they approach their work, the findings of this report will apply to any philanthropic organisation.”
“It offers a range of options and ideas on how to leverage all the assets at their disposal for more impact.”
