Nearly half of the private foundations in a recent survey said that none of their investment portfolios are currently allocated to impact investments.
That’s the finding of Foundation Source, a provider of support services for private foundations.
But that’s not for lack of interest. Foundation Source also said that a large majority of respondents, 88.2% of the foundation representatives, said they are interested in impact investing.
The main thing holding them back is a lack of knowledge about these investments, which try to have a positive effect on the community and the environment.
A little more than half of the respondents had at least some of the investments held as impact investments. A slim 3.3% of the reps in the survey of 122 private foundations devote all of their investments to impact investing.
Thirty-seven percent said the reason for not putting funds in impact investments is that they do not know enough about it.
The majority of respondents (51.6%) either “strongly” or “somewhat” agree that impact investing means settling for lower returns. Nearly three-fourths of the foundation representatives said they had not explored the topic with their financial advisors. Most who had a discussion about impact investing with their advisor brought the subject up themselves.
“Given the potential of impact investments to further both financial and philanthropic objectives, it’s not surprising that private foundations are interested in them,” said Page Snow, chief philanthropic officer of Foundation Source. “However, our survey shows that foundations need and want more information before really diving in. This presents an excellent opportunity for financial advisors to provide education and dispel the myths that may be inhibiting foundations from achieving more impact with their investable assets.”