Investment Resources & FAQs
Learn more about how we invest
Our investments are one of the strategies that allows us, as a private foundation, to better align our financial assets to our mission. On this page you will find investment resources and answers to our most frequently asked questions about our approach to investing.
Our investments
We are committed to consciously steering our entire endowment towards advancing our mission of a resilient, inclusive and sustainable society that can successfully address its complex challenges. As we transition to a 100% impact portfolio, we remain focused on adapting our investment approach to be proactive, seeking out new partners and identifying and catalyzing the most impactful opportunities from a larger variety of investment products that are now available. We are also concentrating on leveraging our position as an institutional investor to encourage other large asset managers to direct their capital towards impact investments.
Investment resources
Our fifth annual Impact Investing Report provides an update on the allocation of our impact investing portfolio for 2023, as well as our strategy to build a 100% impact portfolio.
Impact Investing Report 2023
Our SIPP outlines the principles governing McConnell’s investment policy and addresses key matters such as investment beliefs, principles and asset mix. The SIPP helps to ensure consistency, continuity and good governance in the management of the Foundation’s financial assets. It also aims to make certain that fiduciaries of the assets manage them in a responsible and prudent manner.
Statement of investment policies and procedures
Our fourth annual Impact Investing Report provides an update on the allocation of our impact investing portfolio for 2022, as well as our strategy to build a 100% impact portfolio
2022 Impact Investing Report
Our third annual Impact Investing Report provides an update on the allocation of our impact investing portfolio for 2021.
2021 Impact Investing Report
The second edition of our Impact Investing Report provides an overview of our impact investing approach, as well as an update on our efforts to align our investment strategy with our organization’s mission and vision.
2020 Impact Investing Report
Our first Impact Investing Report takes a deep-dive into our impact investing history, the performance of our impact investing portfolio and details the impact of our individual investments.
2019 Impact Investing Report
This guide on impact investing from 2016 is based on our then internal due diligence process. It offers a framework to assess impact and financial risk and return of potential investment opportunities. While we hope this remains a useful tool for those just getting started, we are appreciative of the many leaders in the impact investment field who have created valuable tools and updated frameworks to help guide investors through the impact investing process.
Due Diligence Guide (2016)
Investment FAQs
We do not lend to or invest directly with individual organizations. We invest in them only through intermediaries (investment funds). For information on the funds we are invested in, please visit our Portfolio page. You can also contact the funds directly to access their lending or investment criteria.
We do not currently accept in-bound investment proposals and prospectuses. As we implement our 100% impact strategy, we are using a proactive partnership development approach to identify funds that advance our mission. If you have more questions about this process, we invite you to contact us.
We believe that by investing for impact we can markedly increase the capital flowing to the organizations creating positive impact across Turtle Island and around the world. We are happy to share what we have learned in our own impact investing journey with other foundations and organizations who are just getting started on this process. We invite you to read our impact investing reports and our SIPP (see above) and to contact us for more information.
We are making a conscious effort to explore impact investment opportunities that accelerate and amplify the impact of our funding. Our Program-Related Investments (PRIs) will align broadly with our three main focus areas of Communities, Reconciliation and Climate, whereas we seek to align our Mission-Related Investments (MRI) portfolio with McConnell’s overarching mission. We aim to build a 100% impact investment portfolio by 2028.
Our investment activities and strategy is governed by our Investment Committee. Composed of external experts, staff and members of the Board, the Investment Committee makes recommendations to our Board of Trustees regarding the management of the Foundation’s endowment, investment policy and impact investments.
Learn more on our Governance page.
