She suggests that donors try to articulate more specifically what they’re looking to achieve, such as make loans or investments to support their regional community. “That’s a clearer ask than saying, ‘Hey, do you have an impact investing strategy,’” she said. “You’ll sort of cut out the static, the noise.”
If donors’ impact priorities are regional, she suggests that they or their financial advisors start talking to community foundations to see if they’re set up to do impact investing. Some community foundations can help with grant making and impact investing outside of the region, she said. If community foundations don’t turn out to be the right fit, she said, look to other donor-advised fund hosts including ImpactAssets, Tides Foundation and RSF Social Finance.
“They’re designed to do higher-touch impacting investing—as are the community foundations—more so than the big investment houses,” she said.
To measure impact in general, Cornerstone Capital Group looks at ESG (environmental, social and governance) metrics and uses its Access Impact Framework. The impact of a private enterprise could be evaluated by examining many measurable factors such as the number of individuals served and their increase in income, she noted.
“If people could see what is possible and how they are leaving all this impact sitting on the table, by not using the investments of their DAFs for impact,” said Pease, “I think it would be a game changer.”