This recently published report provides the first comprehensive analysis of mission investing by U.S. foundations. The study, funded by The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, analyzes the mission investment activity of 92 U.S. foundations, which have made a combined total of 2.3billionofmissioninvestments.Missioninvestingisamorespecifictypeofsocialinvesting,andrepresentstheuseoffinancialinvestmentsastoolstoachieveafoundationâČsmission.Throughinterviewswithfoundationsandextensivedatacollection,FSGassembledarichpictureofcurrentandhistoricalmissioninvestmentactivitystretchingbackalmost40years.Thestudyfoundthatthenumberoffoundationsengagedinmissioninvestinghasdoubledinrecentyears,andtheamountoffundscommittedannuallyhastripled.Althoughmostmissioninvestmentsarestilllowâinterestloans,foundationsareincreasinglyusingequityandotherinvestmentsthatgeneratemarketâratereturns.Surprisingly,mostofthegrowthhasbeendrivenbysmallerfoundationswithassetsunder200 million