Skoll Foundation Investments

Capital Model - Aligning Capital with Mission and Impact

The Skoll Foundation seeks to use all its resources to further its mission.  This includes Foundation’s financial capital, a fundamental and defining resource for any foundation.   We deploy our capital through grants to social entrepreneurs and other organizations pursuing innovative solutions to the world’s most pressing problems.  And we draw on our capital to produce operating programs, primarily Social Edge and the Skoll World Forum, that connect and celebrate social entrepreneurs.   Beyond grants and charitable program expenditures, we acknowledge a responsibility, and see a spectrum of opportunities, to align our financial investments with the Foundation’s purpose.  We refer to these principles and associated actions as the Foundation’s capital model.  Following is a brief outline of several steps we are taking, learning from and adapting as we seek innovative ways to put the Foundation’s financial resources to work to further Jeff Skoll’s vision of a world of sustainable peace and prosperity.

A mission aligned investment policy.   

According to the Foundation’s Investment Policy Statement, the Foundation’s mission provides the overarching framework for management of its financial capital.  In service of its mission the investment goals of the Foundation are:

• To generate income necessary to fund the Foundation’s spending on grants, program investments and operations over the long term;
• To grow the real value of the Foundation’s financial assets over the long term with consideration of the Foundation’s spending levels; and,
• To seek investments in funds and companies whose practices and products further the Foundation’s mission while avoiding investments in entities whose actions work counter to the Foundation’s mission, unless the Foundation determines that engagement with such entities will result in developments that may benefit relevant communities. 

We implement this policy working closely with the Foundation’s investment manager, Capricorn Investment Group.  Capricorn was founded by Jeff Skoll and employs an investment approach it calls principled investment management.    Capricorn believes that achieving superior investment returns does not preclude a principled approach, but rather, is enhanced by incorporating ethical, social and environment factors on a total and integrated basis to the investment process. 

Program Related Investments (PRIs).  

PRIs occupy a pivotal position on the Foundation’s capital continuum.   PRIs offer the opportunity to blend the mission focus of a grant with the discipline and leverage of a financial investment. Our primary PRI strategy is to provide capital, most often in the form of below-market interest rate loans or guarantees, to Skoll Awardees for Social Entrepreneurship with earned revenue and/or for-profit business models.  The Foundation also makes PRIs to innovative and entrepreneurial intermediaries that are accelerating the provision of capital and other resources to underserved markets.  Learn more about the Foundation’s PRI portfolio here.

Engaged Investor. 

The Foundation believes that customers, shareholders and constituents can and should hold institutions accountable for the results of their actions. As shareholders in publically traded companies, we fulfill this responsibility by managing our shareholder proxy votes according to the Foundation’s Public Shareholder Engagement Guidelines.   We also act responsibly by adding our voice to those of other investors seeking to change a harmful the status quo. For example, following the lead of Ceres, a Skoll Awardee for Social Entrepreneurship, we signed the Investor Network on Climate Risk (INCR) Action Plan.

Security Selection.

The Foundation believes that good social and environmental stewardship ultimately benefits financial performance.  Companies that do not acknowledge and manage their environmental, social and governance risks are at long-term disadvantage to those who actively address these factors, all else being equal.  We implement these principles by employing company and issue specific negative screens.  Our purchases of public securities are informed by company assessments provided by RiskMetrics, the Conflict Risk Network, and other research sources. Similarly, Capricorn considers fundamental threats such as global warming and opportunities such as non-carbon based fuels when vetting investments in private funds. 

Impact Investing.

Capricorn is developing an investment discipline it refers to as “impact investing”.  This is a thematic oriented approach that seeks market rate investments that have positive social and environmental impacts.  Focus areas include emerging markets and the application of disruptive technologies.  Examples are investments in Tesla Motors, Actis Africa and the China Environment Fund.

Connecting with others.  

The principles and actions we are pursuing rely significantly on the leadership and support of others seeking responsibly to deploy capital for good. A partial list includes:

• More for Mission
• PRI Makers Network
• Global Impact Investing Network

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