I’d like to welcome myself back with a simple question: why do foundations spend their money so slowly? A couple quick numbers from 2005, according to the Foundation Center Yearbook: Total amount of money held by U.S. foundations: $510.5 billion Total amount of money granted by U.S. foundations: $33.6 billion 33.6 billion divided by 510.5…
The GiveWell Blog
All Responsible investing Posts
Most foundations spend only a fraction of their assets each year. What should they do with the rest? Should they invest it for maximum return, or should they invest only in companies that are consistent with their values? There was a blogging firestorm about this issue, and Holden added his thoughts.
Wait till next year
I’ve talked a fair amount about the question of what a foundation should do with all the money it has left over, after giving all the money it can give for a year. Now Jon B raises an interesting alternative to both investing it traditionally and to investing it in “responsible companies”: loan it to…
One more thing
“I’ve got a great new charitable venture. What I’m going to do is separate the S&P 500 into socially responsible and socially irresponsible companies. I’ll go long the good companies and short the bad ones.* Of course, I’ll be doing this for altruism, not out of any knowledge of the companies – so I might…
More thoughts on “responsible investing”
The debate on responsible investing continues, including some thought-provoking discussion of “blended value.” People are pointing out, rightly, that being profitable vs. being beneficial to society is not an either-or. A charitable foundation can make investments that it expects to recoup partly or fully, and still think of these as part of its charitable activities…
I’m basically fine with investing in evil
I have plenty more ranting to do on the Straw Ratio, but apparently blogs are supposed to discuss current events or something, and the big story in charity blogging (yeah, charity blogging is a thing–I knew it wasn’t going to take much more time to get going than food blogging) is “social investing.” Specifically, the…