September 20, 2007 | Read Time: 1 minute
NEW BOOKS
The Mission in the Marketplace: How Responsible Investing Can Strengthen the Fiduciary Oversight of Foundation Endowments and Enhance Philanthropic Missions, describes how foundations can use their endowments to support their philanthropic goals. The topic discussed here is often described as “socially responsible” or “mission related” investing, and has recently become a hot topic of debate. A table in the publication provides specific information on how different types of grant makers — including health, environmental, human-rights, community-development, and other groups — might screen their investment portfolios for companies that could be at odds with the foundation’s mission. Grant makers will also find information on which of their peers employ such screening methods, which groups have been successful in influencing company practices, and how foundations can get started with mission-related investing.
Publisher: Social Investment Forum, 1612 K Street, N.W., Suite 650, Washington, D.C. 20006; (202) 872-5319; http://www.socialinvest.org; 23 pages; available free for download on the organization’s Web site.
