Advocacy
One of SK2’s objectives is influencing other foundation and philanthropic peers to allocate more financial resources to mission and values-aligned investments.
The vast majority of foundations are governed by traditional practices separating how money is made from the good it can do. This means foundation endowments are invested passively without regard, and in some cases, with direct opposition to their mission and values. In other words, 95% of foundation money works to preserve the status quo, while only 5% works to change it. We believe that if pursuit of charitable mission is the highest purpose of a foundation, then all of its resources, investments as well as grants, should be aligned with it.
The first step in aligning your money with your values is knowing what you own. In addition to being fully transparent with our own impact investments (see Impact-First Endowment), we are also advocating for more foundations to do the same. SK2 is partnering with a leader in the small foundation mission-aligned investing (MAI) field, Untours Foundation, in their advocacy efforts, including co-sponsoring the educational video below. We are also active in related networks such as the Just Economy Institute and the Transformative 25, as well as the Diverse Investing Collective, a group of philanthropists advocating for more diversity on investee leadership teams.
Don’t hesitate to reach out to us if you are considering making the journey into mission and values-aligned investing!