From Grants to Groundbreaking: Unlocking Impact Investing

Philanthropy and the practice of grant making have traditionally been very separate from investing in both culture and approach, but the emerging field of impact investing invites a productive collaboration between these two disciplines. Impact investing deals generate both financial and social returns and often require different types of capital, including grants, below-market and market rate capital. This Issue Brief explores the potential for greater coordination between impact investments and grants, with a focus on how grants may be structured to attract investment capital. To illustrate how grant makers and investors can cooperate, this Brief profiles several ways that family foundations, philanthropic institutions, and public funders can use their grants to unlock dollars from the growing impact investment field.