Beyond Granting
The Social Impact Investment Fund at Toronto Foundation offers donors a way to undertake their philanthropic work as funders of social impact investments. Our mission is to connect philanthropy to community needs and opportunities, and it has been gratifying to leverage one more tool to make systemic change.
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About our social impact fund
We’ve worked with fundholders to grow the program and have together invested $14+ million, with $1.3M new social impact investments made in 2024. The growth of our program is in large part due to the nonprofit sector’s innovation and drive for social change. As our loans mature and are paid back, we are able to re-invest, and we will continue to methodically evaluate risks and returns, and do our detailed due diligence on new potential investments that are recommended to the board by the Foundation’s Social Impact Investment Committee.
How we make our investments
Toronto Foundation does an internal review of potential investments before they are asked to pitch at our quarterly Social Impact Investment Committee meetings. We explore:
Relationship to our current portfolio
- Contributes to equitable distribution of Toronto Foundation investments
- Adds to priority issue areas
- Diversifies or enhances Toronto Foundation knowledge & range of impact tools
Impact profile
- Impact and outcome align with Toronto Foundation’s purpose
- Addresses a need/social inequity identified by the Foundation’s priority areas
- Impact based on demonstrated need and is clearly defined and measurable
- Capacity to achieve desired impact
Investee profile
- Diversity of leadership
- Stakeholder/community strategic engagement
- Track record in social impact investing and/or revenue generation
- Impact-first approach
Innovation assessment
- Emerging or new impact area
- New pathway to achieve social impact
- New technology leveraged
- Opportunity for the Foundation to co-invest and/or collaborate
- Outcomes lead to lasting change
We aim for a diverse portfolio, and will consider debt or equity, in nonprofits and for-profit social purpose organizations. Depending on the investment type and assessed risk level, the Foundation’s impact investments range from $150k to $1M. Investment returns range and are considered within the context of risk and impact.
Interested in being considered for an investment?
Do this self-evaluation to see if you could be considered for an investment from Toronto Foundation, if resources are available.