In an interview in the magazine Gestion de fortune, Etienne Eichenberger, Chairman of Swiss Philanthropy Foundation, addresses the topic of Impact Investing, also known as Mission Related Investment (MRI). Indeed, we notice today that not only the foundations, but also the donors, wish to develop more coherence between the supported mission and the investment of their capital.
This approach echoes the desire to do better with the resources available, and is now increasingly applied to the foundations sector.
For example, the PeaceNexus Foundation was the first to tackle this issue in Switzerland and has transformed the investment of its portfolio so that it is in line with its values (Stabilization of fragile states in the world, ed). According to Etienne Eichenberger, investment sectors naturally reflect this diversity of goals of foundations: green energy, access to water, or simply an exclusion of specific sectors, such as the armament.
« Recent developments show that capital itself can sometimes have a leverage effect on the mission of the foundation »
This desire for coherence is growing and can already be seen in the aspirations of donors for the investment of the capital of their fund sheltered by Swiss Philanthropy Foundation. The Foundation created in 2015 a Finance Committee, which ensures that the criteria requested by the donors in their investments are respected.
Sustainable finance is one of Swiss Philanthropy Foundation’s most important and dearest themes, as a founding member of Sustainable Finance Geneva and Swiss Sustainable Finance. Hence, the Foundation values and encourages its development.
To find out more, Gestion de Fortune’s article – December 2017
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