Reports

NEW YORK, NY, May 13, 2021 – The Nathan Cummings Foundation (NCF) formally released Values Proposition: How and Why We Transformed Our Investment Model to Align Our Capital with Our Mission, a comprehensive report on what happened after it made the decision three years ago to activate all its resources, not just its grants, in service of its mission. The journey was more difficult than its trustees and executives had expected— and also more rewarding.

“Through this report, we’re opening up about what we’ve learned, what we wish we had known when we embarked on this journey, and why we’re sure we made the right call to go all in on impact investment,” said NCF Board Chair Jaimie Mayer.

NCF began aligning its investments with its values by analyzing what was in the portfolio and then shifting its assets from companies doing harm into companies that actively seek to benefit broad stakeholders and those that meet the even-higher bar of helping to solve systemic challenges. However, “we wish we had started by applying a racial-equity lens,” Mayer acknowledged. “We found out the hard way that racial and economic justice are not yet baked into impact investment the way that environmental and governance factors are.” 

To address this gap, the foundation commissioned research, included in the Values Proposition report, on how to shift capital to funds and communities too often bypassed by Wall Street. NCF’s research partner Frontline Solutions surveyed 115 Outside Chief Investment Officers (OCIOS), the firms that typically manage the assets of small and mid-sized foundations. Frontline asked these OCIOs what an inclusive investment portfolio would look like, what barriers impede them from making more investments in funds led by diverse professionals, what types of data they’re collecting on race, and to what effect. The research demonstrated:

• Aligning investments with mission does not require sacrificing financial returns. In fact, it likely enhances financial returns, while helping to mitigate risk.
• Diverse investment professionals face significant disadvantages in the marketplace, often because they don’t have as lengthy a track record as white peers.
• Only a small subset of OCIOs have a clear mandate to examine the diversity of the fund managers they research. 
• Even among impact investors, too few OCIOs factor racial, economic, or environmental justice into their investing approach.

“The bottom line is that the value proposition for aligning investments with values is even higher than we realized,” Mayer said. “But if you care about racial justice and not just environmental and governance factors, you really need to be selective about the firm you choose to guide you.”

About Nathan Cumming Foundation

The Nathan Cummings Foundation is a multigenerational family foundation working to create a more just, vibrant, sustainable, and democratic society, rooted in the Jewish tradition of social justice. The foundation has four main focuses to promote a healthy planet and democracy: advancing racial and economic justice, transitioning to an inclusive clean economy, activating corporate and political accountability, and building solidarity through voice, creativity, and culture. Its commitment to mission-aligned investing is a bold continuation of this legacy and a testament to Nathan Cummings’ anchoring ethos that “nothing will ever be attempted if all possible objections must be first overcome.”

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MEDIA CONTACT:

Candice Wynter

646-906-5649

communications@nathancummings.org