Center for Effective Philanthropy 2015 Impact Investing Survey of Private Foundations

CEP's 2015 survey of 64 chief executives showed that at large private foundations, the proportion of dollars allocated to impact investing is small. A sizeable number of large U.S.-based foundations — 41 percent of respondents — report engaging in impact investing, but the median percentage of endowments going toward this practice is only two percent; the median percentage of program/grant budgets going toward it is even lower, just 0.5 percent.

The data also revealed that few foundations are using negative screening to exclude particular companies and/or organizations — like fossil fuels, tobacco, or private prisons, for example — from their investment portfolios.