Impact Investing

How does the Mission Investments team determine where to invest?

Our due diligence process is extensive and rigorous. We are relational, not transactional. Our financial and personnel capacity allow us to fund only a small number of proposals. As a result, we are unable to provide financial support to many worthy opportunities.

We do not invest in social enterprises or venture philanthropy. We do not invest in project finance. We rarely make direct investments in operating companies.

How do I submit a proposal to the Mission Investments team to consider?

If you believe your organization, strategy, and proposal fit our criteria, you may submit your materials to [email protected]. Please note that we can only respond to those proposals that we believe meet our criteria.

How do you define impact investing?

We use the Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN) definition of impact investing: “Impact investments are investments made with the intention to generate positive, measurable social and environmental impact alongside a financial return.” That broad definition includes concessionary and market-rate investments. Our impact investing activity is primarily market rate.

What types of capital does Mission Investments provide?

We provide grants, program-related investments, and mission-related investments. (See more details on each below.)

Where do you invest?

Our geographic priority areas are the U.S. and the Global South, including South and Southeast Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East.

Which asset classes do you invest in?

We invest across asset classes but prioritize private market equity investments.

Do you invest in first-time fund managers?

Yes, we invest in first-time fund managers. The decision to do so depends on various factors including, but not limited to, alignment with mission, team, and track record.

Do you invest directly in startups?

Because of our small team and broad geographic remit, we primarily invest in venture capital and private equity funds. We may invest directly into companies in extremely rare cases: for example, in a company that builds and strengthens the infrastructure of impact investing. (See our portfolio company, Novata.)

How does the Foundation evaluate the social impact of an investment?

We assess each investment for its alignment with our mission. We evaluate an investment manager’s intentionality to achieve impact objectives and how its intentionality is incorporated into investment strategies, policies, and practices. We take a non-prescriptive approach to impact measurement and management, relying on the investment manager’s integrity to identify the most suitable metrics to determine the efficacy of their impact mandate, sharing best practices where we believe processes can be improved. Our impact dashboard contains one metric for each impact investing theme: For example, for our Multifamily Affordable Rental Housing theme, our metric is “number of affordable housing units preserved and developed.”

How is the Mission Investments program staffed, and what governance structures do you have in place?

The Mission Investments team currently includes 12 members: four investment professionals, one senior program officer who leads grantmaking initiatives to promote more inclusive capitalism, two professionals dedicated to investment portfolio and grants management, two impact investing fellows who support all team activities, one technology fellow, and two program assistants. 

An investment committee of our Board of Trustees, the MRI Committee, approves all MRIs and provides oversight for the MRI portfolio.

How are impact investments and grants approved?

All MRIs are approved by the MRI Committee. Staff has no investment approval authority. PRIs and grants are approved by Ford Foundation leadership.

Grant Inquiries and Grant Criteria

We have a limited grant portfolio we use to:

• Build and strengthen the infrastructure of impact investing and shape the broader capital markets 
• Support organizations driving the policies and practices that channel more capital toward social good and reduce business behaviors that harm people and the planet 
• Promote a more inclusive system of capitalism by supporting groups that call on corporations to serve all their stakeholders, not only shareholders

MRI Inquiries and Investment Criteria

How much MRI capital is available?

In 2017, we made a historic commitment to invest up to $1 billion of our endowment over a 10-year period in MRIs to address social problems while seeking a risk-adjusted market rate of financial return. That is the total amount of capital that will be allocated to the impact investing endowment.

What is the financial return requirement for MRIs?

Our board’s mandate for the MRI program is to achieve a total return consistent with prudent risk while taking into account the relationship between particular investments and the foundation’s charitable purposes. As a practical matter, a perpetual foundation must achieve financial returns that equal its spend rate (~6% for the Ford Foundation) plus inflation over the long term.

What is your investment criteria?

We target investments in managers with strong track records of delivering financial returns and impact within our thematic strategies (detailed below); as a result, we do not prioritize first-time funds. With a particular focus on promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion, we consider the makeup of investment teams, where they invest, and with what values as part of our fund management selection criteria.

Do you have thematic priorities?

Yes, we invest across six thematic impact strategies:

• Multifamily Affordable Rental Housing: We target opportunities that preserve and expand affordable multifamily rental housing in the United States. This includes support for efforts to improve housing opportunity and infrastructure conditions in low-income and underrepresented communities, ease people’s physical access to basic services and employment opportunities, and ensure that community members have meaningful opportunities to participate in the decision-making process. We prioritize managers that provide meaningful services to residents.
• Diverse Fund Managers: We welcome proposals from investment managers that demonstrate diversity in terms of representation by women and underrepresented minorities, considering ownership, senior management (fund leadership and investment committee) and investment team. We pay attention to groups that are historically underrepresented in investment management. Internationally, we focus on women. We prioritize firms that have a demonstrated alignment to our objectives through hiring, mentoring, supporting, and advocating for diverse talent in investment management.  
• Financial Inclusion: We invest in fund managers working to help the billions of low-wage earners in the Global South access affordable financial products and services. Our primary focus is supporting fund managers who can identify and scale companies through sustainable fintech solutions.
• Global Health/Biotech: We invest in fund managers that leverage technological innovation and new delivery mechanisms to increase access to healthcare products and services for low-income and underserved populations in the Global South.
• Inclusive Capitalism: We make investments that build and strengthen infrastructure for the impact investing market.
• Quality Jobs: We invest in fund managers that center employees in the value creation process through human capital investment and superior operational design. We aim to increase the number of companies that treat employees as investments rather than expenses, with the goal of increasing employee engagement as a way to improve employee engagement, which increases innovation, productivity, and profitability.

PRI Inquiries and Investment Criteria

How much PRI capital is available?

The PRI Fund is a revolving pool of $350 million. Exact amounts available for investment change over time as investments are made and returns flow back into the fund.

What are your PRI criteria?

Our PRIs support investment opportunities that:

• Meet IRS qualifying charitable investment criteria
• Are catalytic and innovative in nature
• Advance the Foundation’s broad programmatic objectives

Investment Proposal Submissions/Contact Information

Proposals/Submissions

Please direct all proposals/submissions to [email protected].  Proposals should include an overview of the investment opportunity, investment thesis and strategy, management team, track record and experience, impact approach, and measurement methodology.

Research/Survey Inquiries

Please direct all inquiries to Brendan O Connell, portfolio operations, [email protected].

Media Inquiries

Please direct all media inquiries to Ford Foundation’s Office of Communications, [email protected].

Do you have any internship/fellowship opportunities?

We occasionally host fellows to spend a year in residence with the Ford Foundation’s Mission Investments team in New York. Please check our careers page for current opportunities.

Where can I learn more about impact investing?

GIIN, MIE, SOCAP, ImpactAlpha (MI is an investor in ImpactAlpha), Stanford Social Innovation Review