NEW YORK (March 5, 2010) – Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors has announced an alliance with noted investment advisory firm Godeke Consulting, which works with foundations, corporations, and non-profit clients to integrate financial and philanthropic goals. The goal of this alliance is to significantly extend and deepen the independent expertise available in the growing field of mission-related and impact investing.

Broadly defined, mission-related and impact investing are investment strategies that aim to achieve social or environmental change along with financial returns. Both approaches are increasing in use by a wide range of donors and investors.

The alliance, announced yesterday at an impact investing symposium sponsored by The Rockefeller Foundation and the Global Impact Investing Network, formalizes a longstanding relationship between Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors and Godeke Consulting and builds on each entity’s existing strengths and shared commitment to raising awareness of the power of these approaches to effect sustainable change along with investment returns.

“Our role is to communicate the potential value of mission-related and impact investing, and to help donors develop the policies, tools and knowledge to take action to support their missions and goals,” said Melissa A. Berman, President and CEO of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors. “This complements Steve Godeke’s exceptional expertise in the asset management and deal flow aspects of the field. Our earlier successful collaborations made clear that a formalized alliance would enable us to offer all types of donors and investors an unparalleled model of sophisticated, independent counsel to guide them from theory to practice.”

The two organizations’ collaboration has included the development of Philanthropy’s New Passing Gear: Mission-Related Investing, and Solutions for Impact Investors: From Strategy to Implementation. Together, these publications are widely acknowledged as cornerstone guides in the field. This alliance hopes to attract more capital to this growing space through issue-specific and broader educational efforts and by assisting those exploring impact investment options through the decision-making processes. In addition, a key long-term goal is to narrow the gap between foundations’ program and investment professionals, which would contribute to a more integrated approach to impact investing.

“As more donors, trustees and investors understand that it is possible – and acceptable – to propel social change and achieve financial performance, the divide between financial investment and ‘traditional’ philanthropy is narrowing,” said Steven Godeke. “I look forward to working more closely with my colleagues at Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors as these strategies become more widely recognized and implemented.”

In a related move, Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors has named Rae Richman, a director based in its San Francisco office, as practice leader for the firm’s work in the MRI/impact investing arenas. Ms. Richman brings extensive experience to this appointment, from funding expertise in areas that offer MRI opportunities, such as climate change and education and long involvement in strategic consulting on issues of corporate social responsibility and community engagement. She leads a dedicated cross-firm team of four professionals and will also work closely with Chris Page, a senior vice president in the New York office.

“Deepening and broadening our involvement in mission-related and impact investing is a natural extension of work we have always done with donors interested in operating beyond traditional grantmaking models,” said Ms. Berman. “Collaborating with Steve Godeke will be an exciting endeavor with limitless potential for our respective and collective clients who seek to change the world in new and bold ways. We look forward to being a part of that change.”

Philanthropy’s New Passing Gear: Mission-Related Investing and Solutions for Impact Investors: From Strategy to Implementation are available at no cost by contacting info@rockpa.org or calling 212-812-4369. A PDF can also be downloaded from www.rockpa.org/pdfs.

About Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors
Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors (www.rockpa.org) is a nonprofit organization that currently advises on and manages more than $200 million in annual giving by individuals, families, corporations, and major foundations. Headquartered in New York City with offices in Los Angeles, Chicago and San Francisco, it traces its antecedents to John D. Rockefeller, Sr., who in 1891 began to professionally manage his philanthropy “as if it were a business.” With thoughtful and effective philanthropy as its only mission, Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors has grown into one of the world’s largest philanthropic service organizations and as a whole has facilitated more than $3 billion in grantmaking to nearly 70 countries. RPA’s diverse staff of 42 is led by experienced grantmakers with significant depth of knowledge across multiple issue areas.

About Godeke Consulting
Godeke Consulting (www.godekeconsulting.com) is an independent investment advisory firm which works with foundations, corporations, and non-profit organizations to integrate their financial and philanthropic goals. Founded in 2001, it advises clients on the creation and execution of impact investment strategies across asset classes and program areas. Its services include strategy development, due diligence, negotiation and execution of impact investments, investment manager searches, and portfolio performance measurement. Clients include The Rockefeller Foundation, Robin Hood Foundation, The Conference Board, The F.B. Heron Foundation, The Altman Foundation, Common Ground, The World Economic Forum and corporate clients in the financial services and pharmaceutical industries.

George Clooney worked the phones day and night to produce a telethon last month that raised $66 million for Haitian earthquake victims.

Actor Alyssa Milano asked for donations instead of presents for her birthday party and raised $92,000 for charity: water, a New York nonprofit that builds wells in developing countries.
Morgan Stanley Chairman John Mack and Chief Executive Officers Leslie Moonves of CBS Corp. and Frank Bennack of Hearst Corp. helped Partnership for a Drug Free America raise $2 million at its December gala, topping the organization’s goal by $500,000.

With the U.S. in a severe economic slump, nonprofit groups must work harder to raise money and find new ways to reach patrons. While some are focusing on wealthy executives and celebrities, others are utilizing social network sites such as Facebook to reach a younger audience.

“The nonprofits that ask more people for donations are the ones that are succeeding,” Stacy Palmer, editor of the Washington-based Chronicle of Philanthropy, said in a phone interview. “They just have to work harder at it.”

Charitable donations by U.S. corporations may decline by up to 10 percent in 2009, according to Melissa Berman, chief executive officer of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors in New York. In 2008, those companies gave away $14 billion.

Read the full article.

Starting a private charitable foundation when you inherit a small fortune, sell a business or take your company public is one way to minimize taxes while doing good. Although the recession has made such windfalls less common, entrepreneurs are still finding reasons to get into the giving game.

Attorney Denis Pierce, 65, an owner of Pierce & Associates P.C. in Chicago, planned to start a family foundation two years ago with money from the sale of his interest in the law firm. When the sale fell through, he launched the foundation anyway, but with less funding.

The Pierce Family Charitable Foundation, which helps non-profits working on housing issues, started in December 2007 with $1 million. Thanks to Mr. Pierce, it now has about $3 million in assets and provides technological, fundraising and bookkeeping assistance to 10 organizations and gives operating funds to 10 more. “I’m moving into semi-retirement mode, and it gives me a whole other area to think about,” he says.

Interested in hanging out your own foundation shingle? Proceed cautiously. “A common misconception is that a family foundation is just like a checkbook,” says Melissa Berman, president of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors in New York, a non-profit that advises private clients and foundations. “In actuality, you’ve started a non-profit company, and you have to file a tax return and make sure your financials are in order.”

Read the full article.

With less money to dole out, foundations have become more strategic in their giving, targeting fewer areas with larger grants to organizations that fit the bill.

“Doing fewer things well, in a deeper, more engaged way, is probably better than a scattershot approach,” says Phil Buchanan, president of the Center for Effective Philanthropy, a Cambridge, Mass., non-profit research organization. “Often the best way to prove and demonstrate results is to focus narrowly.”

Nationally, charitable contributions from foundations and individuals were down last year. Following a September survey, the New York-based Foundation Center expects 2009 will show a 10% drop in foundation giving once all the data are in. And more than three-quarters of survey respondents said they expect philanthropy to become more strategic as a result.

Read the full article.

Jefferies Group Inc., Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. each pledged at least $1 million for relief efforts following the Haiti earthquake, among many U.S. and European businesses offering aid to victims.

JPMorgan Chase & Co., Bank of America Corp., Amgen Inc., United Parcel Service Inc. Lowe’s Cos., Wells Fargo & Co., Eli Lilly and Co., Walt Disney Co., Western Union Co., France’s Credit Agricole SA and Britain’s Tesco Plc were among others that adonations.

Read the full article.

New York (Dow Jones)–As more philanthropists try to leverage their gifts by teaming up with public agencies, the federal government is opening a new avenue for these public-private partnerships.

Starting this summer, the Corporation for National and Community Service will channel grants of $5 million to $10 million to existing grant-making institutions, such as community foundations and venture-philanthropy funds. These intermediaries will then create their own social innovation funds to make sub-grants to promising nonprofits, the corporation said Friday in its announcement.

To qualify for funding, the intermediary organizations and the charities on the receiving end are required to raise dollar-for-dollar matching funds from foundations, private donors, and state and local governments.

The money comes from a $50 million Social Innovation Fund, authorized by the 2009 Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act in March to direct federal dollars to innovative programs in the areas of health, economic opportunity, youth development and school support. Funding is expected to increase incrementally to $100 million by 2014.

Read the full article.

Two powerful forces in the US have combined to forge a renewed awareness of how and why the public sector and private philanthropy can connect.

First, of course, is the steep economic recession and the painfully obvious toll it’s taking on many people. Even with recovering equity markets, unemployment in the US is at historic highs, with low expectation for rapid relief. According to recent figures, nearly 15% of Americans are going hungry or worrying about where their next meal will be. Community feeding programmes face longer and longer lines – while donations of both food and money are dropping. Credit remains tight, even for sound borrowers, and by some estimates a quarter of American homeowners are behind on their mortgage payments. Fifty million Americans now lack health insurance, and medical bills are a rising reason for bankruptcy.

Just as there are no atheists in foxholes, there are no libertarians in recessions.

Read the full letter.

Melissa Berman, president and chief executive officer of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, talks with Bloomberg’s Erik Schatzker and Deirdre Bolton about Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s $500 million charitable effort to help 10,000 U.S. small businesses.

NEW YORK (November 23, 2009) –A challenging economic climate for investors, donors and nonprofits alike has prompted increased interest in “impact investing,” leveraging a broad range of investments to address major social and environmental problems while also earning a return. For investors exploring this nascent field, Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors has published Solutions for Impact Investors: From Strategy to Implementation, practical guidance on tightening the link between making investment decisions and impact.

Written by a team of practitioners, advisors and academics, Solutions for Impact Investors is designed for investors who may have made social purpose investments but not yet connected them to an overall investment strategy, and traditional investors struggling with whether – and how – to integrate impact investing into existing asset allocation models. This includes philanthropic foundations and endowments seeking to enhance their knowledge of social, mission- and program-related investments, and individual and institutional investors and their advisors.

“As techniques and options in this kind of investing continue to evolve, there is great potential to deploy much more capital into the social sector, which is especially needed in this difficult economic climate,” said Melissa A. Berman, President and CEO of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors (RPA).
Solutions for Impact Investors builds on Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors’ earlier publication, Philanthropy’s New Passing Gear: Mission-Related Investing, widely recognized as the first practical guide to translate the concepts, ideas and philosophy of mission-related investing into useable policies and practices for foundation trustees.

“The possibilities for social change through impact investing are limitless, but it is not charity; it can be used across all asset classes and requires the same discipline as traditional investing,” said Steven Godeke, a noted independent advisor and a lead author of both RPA publications.
“Our intent is threefold: to attract more capital to impact investing; to assist investors as they move to executing and refining their investment decision-making processes; and to narrow the gap between foundations’ program and investment professionals, which would contribute to a mutual understanding and implementation of a portfolio approach to impact investing,” said co-author Raúl Pomares, a vice president of Guggenheim Partners.

Embracing “The Genius of AND”
The sharp dichotomy between profit-maximizing financial investment and “give it away” charity is gradually eroding. Citing business author Jim Collins’ advice to avoid the “Tyranny of OR” and instead harness the “Genius of AND,” the authors of Solutions for Impact Investors emphasize that investors need not choose between social impact OR financial return. Instead, they can:
• Create new impact-related processes AND operate within strict investment policy discipline;
• Optimize for impact AND apply rigorous investment management tools;
• Invest in new markets and asset classes AND continue traditional investment strategies;
• Embrace new business models AND adhere to recognized financial theory;
• Evaluate impact performance AND subject investments to recognized financial benchmarks; and
• Expand the scope and scale of philanthropic capital AND adhere to fiduciary responsibilities.

The book covers the key role that behavioral finance plays in impact investing, and includes examples of investment processes, case studies and resources that focus on specific themes or investment vehicles. To illustrate many of the concepts throughout the book, the authors highlight RSF Social Finance, the KL Felicitas Foundation and the Calvert Social Investment Foundation. Finally, the authors prepared more than 40 profiles to demonstrate the range of impact investments available in the marketplace today. While not intended to serve as investment guidance or as a comprehensive list of the industry, additional profiles will be added on an ongoing basis and are available at www.rockpa.org/impactinvesting.

“Government and traditional philanthropy do not have sufficient funds to address the world’s most serious problems, so commercial capital and market forces must be part of the solution,” said Berman. “Impact investing will build the kind of partnerships that we need for the current crisis, and will lay the groundwork for real change in the coming years.”

Other contributors to Solutions for Impact Investors include technology entrepreneur and pioneering impact investor Charly Kleissner; Patrick Guerra, founder of Lions Peak LLC; and Albert V. Bruno and Hersh Shefrin, social investment experts and professors at Santa Clara University.

Major support for the publication was provided by the KL Felicitas Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation. Additional underwriting was provided by the Betsy and Jesse Fink Foundation, Legacy Works, the Flora Family Foundation and the Woodcock Foundation. Solutions for Impact Investors: From Strategy to Implementation is available at no cost by contacting info@rockpa.org or calling 212-812-4369. A PDF can also be downloaded from www.rockpa.org/pdfs/impactinvesting.pdf.

Many people are finding the holiday tradition of making charitable donations difficult again this year, particularly if they’re unemployed or worried about the economy.

Charities, many of which normally get the bulk of their donations at the end of the year, don’t expect to see a big resurgence after last year’s 2 percent drop. That means that many people are probably trying to figure out how much they can give, and to which organizations.

If you can’t give as much as you did in the past, you might consider concentrating your donations among a smaller number of charities. You’ll have a bigger impact than if you made many modest gifts.

Read the full article.