In November of 2016, Bryan Cave organized a half-day symposium examining the opportunities and legal considerations related to responsible and impact investing strategies. I participated on a panel to discuss how private foundations may engage in impact investing through the use of a program related investment (PRI).
We continue to see increasing interest by our foundation clients regarding the use of PRIs to engage in impact and social investing. So why do PRIs continue to be a part of the conversation for private foundations that desire to engage in impact and social investing?
First, PRIs have been expressly included in the Internal Revenue Code and Treasury Regulations for more than 40 years, and thus are a very well-established and accepted tool.
Second, PRIs provide a variety of additional benefits to a private foundation beyond the social benefit derived from the investment itself. For example, PRIs are not subject to the