Established in 2012, Sorenson Impact Foundation has developed a 100% mission-related investment strategy generating both scalable impact and financial returns to show the greater financial services market that the two are not mutually exclusive. A key part of the overall strategy is the Foundation’s substantial commitment to program-related investments in early-stage impact-focused companies or other high-risk impact-focused investments that traditional commercial investors would not make. The Foundation is made up of a robust mission-related investment portfolio, a grant portfolio, and a program-related investment portfolio comprised of 61 active investments in companies headquartered in 14 countries and across five continents.
All Foundation program-related investments deploy catalytic capital to create and improve systems that reduce inequality and increase access to opportunity for historically marginalized communities worldwide. Through 2023, the Foundation’s PRI portfolio companies have positively impacted the lives of over 775 million people around the world by increasing access to necessities needed to survive and thrive, including healthcare, education, clean water, jobs, and safety. Without affecting the overall investment portfolio’s continuing production of market and above market-rate returns, the program-related investment portfolio has helped create over 174,000 jobs, support an additional 285,000 jobs, reach 490 million low-income students, preserve over 216,000 affordable housing units, and unlock over five billion in capital for underserved founders and fund managers.