Commonfund and the Council on Foundations are thrilled to announce the release of the 2016 Council on Foundations – Commonfund Study of Responsible Investing. It is the largest and most detailed survey to date on practices, policies and attitudes relating to socially-responsible investing (SRI), environmental, social and governance integration (ESG) and impact or mission-related investing (MRI) among U.S. private and public foundations. The Study encompasses both the policies of foundations that have adopted any of the responsible investing practices listed and the attitudes toward responsible investing of those that have not. The data are complemented by a rich selection of comments from participating institutions. The Study thus presents a complete picture of the responsible investing landscape among U.S. private and public foundations.
Study participants comprised 186 U.S. private and public/community foundations, including 52 private/independent foundations, 49 private/family foundations, eight public foundations and 77 community foundations, together representing a total of $39.7 billion in endowment assets as of December 31, 2014 and encompassing a wide range of endowment sizes and geographic locations across the U.S.