Impact Investing and Philanthropy are Joining up
Last week Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, and his wife, Dr. Priscilla Chan announced that they would pledge $45 Billion to philanthropic causes. This giving would focus on “personalized learning, curing disease, connecting people and building strong communities.” This pledge is a record which eclipses even the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, LLC will not behave like a traditional foundation however. Because the LLC will not be a technical foundation, it will have the ability to “participate in policy and advocacy to shape debates.” Foundations and 501c3 non-profits are prohibited from lobbying, but by giving up some of the tax advantages of those structures, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative will be able to create Impact through lobbying as well as through giving.
The Initiative will not only be giving and lobbying, however. It will also be investing in companies that it believes will create Impact in the areas that the Initiative has identified as important. There are many companies that are accomplishing significant social and environmental results – sometimes much more than the philanthropic organizations that focus strictly on Impact without concern for the financial bottom line.
This strategy of investing in Impact companies is a good one because it allows the Initiative to leverage its capital in ways that traditional philanthropy could not. By investing as opposed to purely giving, the Initiative gives a jump start to companies who can make a difference and the returns to the Initiative can then be reinvested in other companies, or given as pure philanthropy. This blended approach focuses primarily on making an Impact vs. taking advantage of tax credits or pure profit. The Zuckerbergs can vary their strategy between various organizations in order to create the biggest Impact.
Rockies Venture Club has been endorsing this idea of blending investing with giving for several years now. RVC believes that people who want to make a difference can sometimes make a greater difference by investing than giving. In fact, most active angel investors do some of each. They will make impact angel investments as well as giving to their favorite causes.
The speakers at RVC’s Impact Investing event, Tuesday December 8th 5:00 PM, will share some new ground breaking strategies for Impact investing that provide new opportunities to make a difference and make a profit at the same time. This event is open to the public and investors, impact fans, philanthropists and community members are encouraged to attend.
Impact Investing Keynote Speakers
- Ryan Kirkpatrick, Colorado Impact Fund
- Dr. Stephanie Gripne, Impact Finance Center
Hear our keynote speakers describe the new trends and opportunities in impact investing. This is a great event to see Impact company pitches, meet investors and entrepreneurs and learn something new.
Presenting Companies
Event Hosted by Rockies Venture Club
Good article. I would note, these same scenarios could play out much stronger, if the instrument of change, was an American Indian non-profit, organized under sovereign tribal laws. The regulatory constructs are independent and relaxed to the advantage of the policy shapers and/or the investors or philanthropist! The same is true on the actual core missions. Could you imagine specialized tax advantages, being embedded into the work product of the non-profit? Not only could you easily shape policy debates, but this can be done while market dominance is architected in various social impact investing scenarios. From new tech start-ups, to incubators, and accelerators. Congress seems like it will never reform the tax code, so lets find new ways to innovate and capitalize on social investing and making a real difference!
Volunteer: Programs in Environmental Protection and in Advancing Racial & Gender Fair Treatment
9 年Hi Peter. I'm sorry to have missed this. I would have liked to have sent a client who offered just this type of opportunity. However, they had a hard time appreciating that Impact investing is still Investing, and that you have to offer angel-grade returns, or something reasonably close, for people to write checks. There's a need for education for both investors and entrepreneurs.
Donor Development | Marketing Strategist | Nonprofit Consulting
9 年This is a growing trend and one well worth doing! Business acumen is needed in running a nonprofit. I'm glad to see this conversation spreading.
SBA-funded SCORE volunteers chapter chair in Billings, serving the Eastern half of MT, Northern half of WY, and Western half of SD.
9 年The enormous inefficiency of so many NGO's in addressing complex issues gets very frustrating and in many cases, like clean water, local energy, affordable housing, revitalizing neighborhoods, home health care, educational technology, etc. what's needed has to be done by specialized manufacturing, contracting, expert services, etc. that NGO's are ill-suited or prohibited from performing. NGO's that essentially just do public relations work about big problems, "raising public awareness", are especially frustrating to donors and investors used to doing far more about problems than pointing them out.
CFO - BSG Advisors - Providing Financial and Operations Management Expertise to Emerging Growth and Middle Market Companies
9 年Here in the Mid-Atlantic Region we have several groups, like Investors Circle and Good Company Ventures, dedicated to "social impact investing". However, I contend that nearly all early stage investing is triple bottom line, social impact investing. In addition to earning a financial return on their investment, investors can potentially further technologies that can improve the end users' quality of life and create jobs that boost our economy.