Investing to give

Abstract

The practice of pooling funds in order to invest them and distribute the gains to charitable causes was introduced in 1784 by Charles-Joseph Mathon de la Cour. This article discusses the revival of the practice in modern philanthropy, also known as ‘investing to achieve impact’. It argues that investing long term may often be a better strategy than giving immediately. The author explores a number of factors that must be considered in order to assess the strategy, such as the expected financial returns, the likelihood that the funds will be spent effectively, and the likelihood of identifying higher-impact opportunities in the future. The author concludes that, while investing to achieve impact is a promising strategy, more research is needed. – AI-generated abstract.