Summer greetings!
When I opened Facebook the other day, I was greeted by a surprising headline: “Most foundations are heavy, cakey, and dry.” I wrapped my mind around those adjectives and quickly laughed realizing this was a make-up ad. But think about it. Foundations can be heavy: top heavy to be exact, not using all their wealth toward their missions. And cakey: flat cakes not rising to the crises and opportunities at hand. And dry: not yet providing enough permaculture to nurture and water thriving ideas and models of change.
Here’s one more: foundations use too much “concealer” in hiding and not revealing their endowment holdings. These funds were placed in foundations for the public good, and we are advocating for all foundations to unveil and share all their holdings on their 990s. We are seeing first hand that endowment transparency leads to action and change. When board members learn what is in their endowments, most are eager to move their funds into investments that fulfill their missions. Here’s the 990 of the Jessie Ball DuPont Religious Charitable & Education Fund, which offers a stellar example of transparency.
— Elizabeth
We Reccommend
The XX Edge is coming out today (!), the book that proves what we all knew: companies with women in leadership roles and on top teams do better financially. Period! Get the research and the facts, and advocate for smarter investments.
Featured Paradigm Shifter
Meet Erik Schultz
co-founder of the SK2 Fund
whose mission is to accelerate transition
to a more equitable and sustainable world.
At Work…
What finally inspired you to start aligning your endowment with your mission?
As someone with the privilege and responsibility to direct charitable resources, I believe foundations need to do all we can in service of our missions. But if we are only directing 5% of our resources toward our mission, there’s no way to claim we are doing that. Philanthropy should not be a privileged hobby; it should be a serious commitment.
What have been the biggest obstacles at your foundation for mission alignment?
Directing financial managers to move the majority of our endowment resources out of public equities (the stock market) into private sector initiatives with greater potential for catalytic contributions and more equitable outcomes.
How far along is your foundation in this journey?
3-4 years
What’s next in your mission alignment?
We are implementing a relatively simple impact measurement framework based on select UN Sustainable Development Goals that complement our mission.
What’s a favorite mission aligned investment of yours?
We’ve long been supporters of for-profit social enterprises as sustainable vehicles for change—especially those that combine improved livelihoods for disadvantaged populations with improved environmental sustainability. As we’ve grown, we’ve added private sector impact-first funds to our endowment that are comprised of exactly such small enterprises, such as Kachuwa Impact Fund based in Colorado, and Beneficial Returns, which supports social and environmental enterprises in Latin America and Southeast Asia. They make it easy to support some really great high impact businesses.
Have you ventured into shareholder advocacy? How so?!
We do not engage in shareholder advocacy directly, but the activist and progressive public equity funds we are invested in, such as Nia Impact Capital and Boston Common, engage in shareholder advocacy as part of their identity.
What’s the most convincing thing to get others on board?
If you invest even a portion of your endowment resources in alignment with your mission objectives, you can have exponentially more positive impact. Shouldn’t that be the point?
After work…
Guilty pleasure:
Single-malt scotch
Kickback film:
Caddyshack
Last series you binge-watched:
Ted Lasso
Favorite caffeine source:
Black dark roast
Sweet or salty:
Both at the same time
Happy place:
On a cross-country ski trail or rafting down a river
A favorite novel:
Seveneves by Neal Stephenson
Animal friend(s):
My late labradors, R.I.P.
Childhood ambition:
Soccer pro
A favorite novel:
I bought a ukulele last summer.
Biggest challenge:
Spending down a foundation endowment for maximum impact
Soundtrack of your life:
Bootleg of a Grateful Dead show
Music that lifts your spirits:
U2 Live from Slane Castle…or anywhere else
Most unusual gift given:
Classified
Most unusual gift received:
A wheelchair
Last Splurge:
Bucket list travel
Mission-aligned Investees
Founder and CEO, Raj Vable (wearing a smile above), is reinventing the Indian and Napali tea industries by bringing back small-scale farmers, who are owners and producers of the highest quality teas. Through Young Mountain Tea, Raj is steadily expanding an economically viable and sustainable future for tea farmers. His teas are Organic, fairly traded, and outstanding. Try them! And, he’s soon to introduce zero-waste tea bags, a first for the industry.
About Us
About the UnTours Foundation
We were born out of Untours travel, the world’s first B Corp, and have since inherited it. We have been 100% mission aligned since our founding 30 years ago. There wasn’t a term or notion of mission alignment back then, but our founder, Hal Taussig, was always ahead of the curve. Yes, Hal inspired the B Corp movement by the way he ran his business, and we launched the Fair Trade town movement in the US making our hometown of Media the First Fair Trade Town in the US, later followed by 43 towns and cities. Now we are taking on mission alignment. We are small but mighty, and we need your help to push this boulder up the mountain!
How can we assist you in your mission aligned adventure? We are here to help!
All good things to you,
Elizabeth Killough and Jonathan Coleman
Co-CEOs
