Since we posted our profile of More for Mission (M4M) in June 2010, the organization grew to a total membership of 96 foundations. In May 2012 M4M and Program Related Investment Makers Network (PRI) combined to form the Mission Investors Exchange.
The merger of the PRI Makers Network and More for Mission was the end result of a long-standing relationship between the two organizations. PRI and M4M were initially focused on different areas of the mission-investment spectrum. PRI focused primarily on below-market investment while M4M focused on market rate investments. Gradually, conferences hosted by the two began to focus on the entire mission-investment spectrum. Leadership from both organizations realized the parallels between their respective missions, and began to contemplate the possibility of a merger in 2011. These efforts culminated in the formation of Mission Investors Exchange in May 2012.
Located in Seattle, The Mission Investors Exchange includes more than 200 member foundations and mission investing organizations of different sizes. Full member organizations are using, or learning to use, program-related and mission related investing (PRI/MRI) to reach philanthropic objectives. Affiliate members work in partnership with foundations to combine and deploy capital in communities to achieve social and environmental goals. Peter Berliner, who joined PRI as Managing Director in 2009, heads the Mission Investors Exchange as Managing Director. The Mission Investors Exchange, a project of Philanthropy Northwest, is in strategic partnership with the Initiative for Responsible Investment of the Hauser Center of Nonprofit Organizations at Harvard University.
In July of 2011 Lisa Hagerman left More for Mission and accepted the position of Director of Programs at Double Bottom-Line Investors (DBL). DBL Investors is a venture capital firm that focuses on both achieving high returns for its portfolio members, as well as planning and helping to implement double bottom line strategies into existing portfolio businesses.—Evan Lozier. Evan is Capital Institute’s Summer 2012 intern.
