NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Monday, September 21, 2015

The Kresge Foundation's board of trustees has stepped up its social investment plans with a commitment to invest $350 million, or 10 percent of the value of its endowment, in socially beneficial efforts by 2020.

Those investments, which will come on top of the nearly $140 million in grants the Troy-based foundation makes each year, will be funded through returns on its $3.5 billion endowment over the next five years, Kresge said.

The expanded commitment to social investments — which commonly take the form of debt, equity, guarantees and deposits — "solidifies the notion that we, as a foundation, cannot solve complex social programs through traditional grant making alone," said Kresge President and CEO Rip Rapson in a news release.

"The language of philanthropy is shifting, from grant-making and social investing being seen as two disparate strands of investment, to a new model, where all types of social funding work in an integrated way toward the same end. …"

"By defining this funding pool, we are extending our hand to for-profit and nonprofit partners alike and are asking them to join us on the front lines to use more innovative approaches to this work," he said.

With its increased commitment to social investments, Kresge said it has set a goal to attract an additional $1 billion from other investors to address the issues facing cities and low-income people.