New initiative to support philanthropic organisations with impact investing
Brussels, 27 May 2024 – Impact Europe, the investing for impact network, and Philea, the voice of European Philanthropy, today launch a joint paper and programme to help philanthropic organisations explore impact investing. Both organisations have seen a growing interest from philanthropic organisations in incorporating impact investing approaches into their grantmaking or achieving social impact through their endowments, and are now joining forces to support them on this journey.
Marking the launch of this programme is a new paper which sets out a framework on foundation practice as well as regulatory and policy environment. “Philanthropic Organisations Using the Entire Toolbox for More Impact” underlines the potential of catalytic grantmaking, highlights challenges and opportunities, and points to existing legal or statutory barriers to impact investing.
It is the first step in an ambitious two-year program to help expand philanthropic organisations’ impact investing tool box. Through events, gatherings, knowledge sharing, data gathering and policy support, Impact Europe and Philea will look to equip Europe’s philanthropic organisations with the confidence and context to be able to access larger impact toolboxes.
Institutional philanthropy in Europe includes over 186,000 foundations with an accumulated annual expenditure of €54 billion, whilst the direct impact investing market in Europe is estimated at €80 billion. This initiative will build understanding between these two pools, allowing them to work closer together and thereby achieve more impact.
Philea CEO Delphine Moralis said: “Faced with a myriad of challenges ranging from climate to democracy and equality, foundations are considering how to best use the tools at their disposal. Philea is excited to join forces with Impact Europe to further enable impact investing by foundations, be it from their programmes, endowments, or by taking a holistic approach to their toolbox.”
Impact Europe CEO Roberta Bosurgi said: “Deepening our collaboration with Philea is an exciting step. Foundations can play a critical catalytic role in the investing for impact ecosystem; by combining the complementary experiences and competences of our networks we hope to be able to bring more holistic and innovative approaches to the sector to accelerate and maximize impact and positive change. “
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