Impact Investing for foundations

100 billion. A one with eleven zeros. 100,000,000,000. 

More than 100 billion euros in foundation assets are managed in Germany, mostly invested in a conservative and return-oriented manner. 

Shortly before Easter, together with Intalcon and supported by the Hamburg Kreativ Gesellschaft, the Bundesinitiative Impact Investing and stiftungsmarktplatz.eu, we invited people to Hamburg's Speicherstadt (warehouse district). With an event dedicated to how foundations can double their impact, we helped interested foundation representatives and asset managers to delve deeper into the concept of impact investing. For many, there is a growing awareness of the importance of achieving a socially relevant impact with investments alongside returns. This trend is encouraging and offers hope.

Until now, foundations have primarily achieved their impact through payout and the funding of projects that correspond to the foundation's purpose. Through impact investing, foundations can have an impact on society by investing their capital in accordance with their statutes. Many models offer equally stable returns as conservative asset classes. Since July 2023, it has been possible for foundations to redirect realized capital gains into innovative financial products such as impact investments in a legally secure manner (and in compliance with the Business Judgement Rule) instead of inevitably “freezing” them back in the traditional portfolio.

In a panel discussion with experts and subsequent workshops in small groups, we answered administrative and legal questions, looked at how an impact-oriented portfolio can be set up, and explained how foundations in particular can maximize their impact through impact investing. 

We would like to thank Dr. Nina Klaß, Deputy Managing Director of Hamburg Kreativ Gesellschaft and Head of nextMedia.Hamburg, for her presentation, as well as Jasmin Gharsi-Krag, Head of the Hamburg Regional Office of the Deutsches Stiftungszentrum (German Foundation Center), Scarlett Eckert and Klaus Wobbe, Founders and Managing Directors of Intalcon, and Stefan Kramer, Partner at MackelSiemers Family Office and Head of Finance at ALAGO-Familienstiftung, for their time and expertise. 

In a second event in mid-October this year, we will examine the topic again, with a different thematic focus. If you are interested, please click on the following link to join the invitation list: Invitation list