We are pleased to share with you our latest report, Aligning Capital with Mission: Lessons from the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Social Investment Program.
The Annie E. Casey Foundation, a private foundation dedicated to improving the lives of America’s children and families, engaged InSight at Pacific Community Ventures — with research support from The Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship (CASE) at Duke University — to conduct the first comprehensive third-party evaluation of its Social Investment Program, a $125 million allocation from its endowment dedicated to mission investing. Through the Social Investment Program, the Foundation invests in Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs), impact funds, and nonprofit organizations supporting low-income and vulnerable communities across the United States.
In an effort to support the broader mission investing field, Aligning Capital with Mission offers, for the first time publicly, findings that highlight the strong alignment of the Social Investment Program’s impact with the Foundation’s mission and programmatic goals.
Through its investments, the Foundation has funded almost 700 housing developments, providing over 8,500 families with access to affordable housing. Its small business investments have supported the creation of over 10,000 new jobs, which provide economic opportunity for families in underserved communities. The report also offers lessons and insights surfaced during the course of the evaluation that can inform foundations and other impact investors in more effectively measuring the impact of their investments.
By incorporating more rigorous impact measurement practices, investors like the Annie E. Casey Foundation are better equipped to understand their impact, make data-driven decisions, and maximize their support of communities in need.
Aligning Capital with Mission draws on our decades-long experience conducting impact measurement and third-party evaluation for clients like CalPERS, the Northwest Area Foundation, and Northern California Community Loan Fund. At PCV InSight, we recognize that impact measurement remains an area of uncertainty and a pain point for many. Through our advisory work and field-building research, we offer support to investors working to overcome these barriers and strive to advance the practice of impact measurement throughout the impact investing community.
We hope this report can assist mission investors and other impact investors as they seek to more fully align their capital with their philanthropic goals and impact objectives. We look forward to your comments and questions on this report. Please feel free to contact us at twoelfel@pcvmail.org.