With a $2.3 billion endowment, the McKnight Foundation has the opportunity to align its money with its mission. Using a prudent approach to risk and return, the Foundation seeks investment opportunities that reflect new economic, environmental, and social realities for almost 10% of its portfolio ($200 million). As we learn more, we are finding exciting opportunities to align portions of our traditional portfolio with our mission as well — in other words, we are surpassing the 10% commitment.
Our Portfolio Includes:
{"type":"pie","data":{"labels":["Program Related Invstments","Private Market"],"datasets":[{"backgroundColor":["rgba(103,33,70,0.9)","rgba(13,82,87,0.9)"],"hoverBackgroundColor":["#672146","#0d5257"],"data":[50,75],"borderWidth":0}]},"options":{"animation":{"duration":2000},"maintainAspectRatio":true,"cutoutPercentage":80,"circumference":6.28318530717958623199592693708837032318115234375,"legend":{"display":true,"position":"bottom","labels":{"usePointStyle":false,"padding":20,"boxWidth":12,"fontSize":12,"fontColor":"#3a3a3a"}},"tooltips":{"enabled":true,"bodySpacing":8,"titleSpacing":6,"cornerRadius":8,"xPadding":10},"noTsep":false}}
["Program Related Invstments: {y}","Private Market: {y}"]
High Impact Investments:
- $75 MILLION in private market high-impact investments. These may include funds or direct private debt and equity deals. We expect a minimum financial return of 6%.
- $50 MILLION in program-related investments (PRIs), a common foundation tool for making non-commercial investments with higher impact. McKnight often structures its PRIs as long-term, low-interest loans at 1-3%.
{"type":"pie","data":{"labels":["Public Market Funds","Carbon Efficiency Strategy","Bond Portfolio","Defensive Equity Strategy"],"datasets":[{"backgroundColor":["rgba(103,33,70,0.9)","rgba(13,82,87,0.9)","rgba(220,88,42,0.9)","rgba(117,152,188,0.9)"],"hoverBackgroundColor":["#672146","#0d5257","#dc582a","#7598bc"],"data":[245,100,190,60],"borderWidth":0}]},"options":{"animation":{"duration":2000},"maintainAspectRatio":true,"cutoutPercentage":80,"circumference":6.28318530717958623199592693708837032318115234375,"legend":{"display":true,"position":"bottom","labels":{"usePointStyle":true,"padding":20,"boxWidth":12,"fontSize":12,"fontColor":"#3a3a3a"}},"tooltips":{"enabled":true,"bodySpacing":8,"titleSpacing":6,"cornerRadius":8,"xPadding":10},"noTsep":false}}
["Public Market Funds: {y}","Carbon Efficiency Strategy: {y}","Bond Portfolio: {y}","Defensive Equity Strategy: {y}"]
Aligned Investments:
- $245 MILLION in public market funds measured against traditional investment benchmarks such as the S&P 500 or the MSCI World. These funds have strong processes to identify social, environmental and governance (ESG) risks or see sustainability as an organizing imperative of the new global economy.
- $100 MILLION seed investment in the Carbon Efficiency Strategy, reducing our exposure to businesses that produce carbon pollution inefficiently. It is benchmarked against the Russell 3000.
- $190 MILLION bond portfolio with no exposure to coal companies or corporate issuers that own underground coal reserves.
- $60 MILLION in lower-cost defensive equity strategy that includes minimal standards of ESG practices for publicly traded company holdings