The investment policies and guidelines of the Lutheran Community Foundation reflect its desire to obtain superior investments returns commensurate with acceptable levels of risk to provide maximum sustained support to the charities and causes recommended by Foundation donors. To meet its investment objective, the Foundation adheres to proven principles of successful investing - a long-term commitment and diversification across asset classes to minimize the risks associated with investing.
Beyond investing in accordance with these principles, the Lutheran Community Foundation is committed to aligning its investments with the mission of the Foundation.
Investing for Mission
In 2008, the Foundation formalized its commitment to mission investing as a way to affect transformational change not only through grants from its charitable funds, but through its investment of gift assets. It's an approach that aligns investments with mission while maintaining the long-term targeted financial returns of the Foundation. Mission investing covers two distinct categories of investments:
Mission-related investments include
investments that support program goals.
In 2008, the Foundation took the first step to investing in support of
its mission by making deposits in community banks where there are
concentrations of Foundation donors in underserved markets.
Program-related investments (PRI) are structured to create specific program benefits while earning below-market return. In 2009, the Foundation made its first PRI by providing a $250,000 below market rate loan to Lutheran Service of Minnesota to expand its financial counseling services. Due to recent economic uncertainty, this 21-year program had experienced unprecedented demand for counseling services in the areas of budgeting, debt and credit, housing, financial education and bankruptcy.
The Lutheran Community Foundation is one of 39 U.S. foundations committed to mission investing through More for Mission: The Campaign for Mission Investing. Through More for Mission, the Foundation is serving as a leader among foundations to increase alignment of investments with missions. For more information, go to MoreForMission.org.
The Foundation board, along with its investment advisor, Cambridge Associates, will continue to explore the opportunity to expand its commitment to socially responsible investing. In the interim, be assured that the investment portfolio of the Foundation will be invested and monitored to best accomplish its overall investment objective.