More for Mission: The Campaign for Mission Investing (previously known as the 2% for Mission Investing Campaign) was announced by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the F.B. Heron Foundation and the Meyer Memorial Trust at the Council on Foundations annual conference in April 2007.

The challenge to foundations -- private, community, and corporate -- is to increase the % of a foundation’s endowment allocated to mission investments, and to help other foundation endowments do the same. The approach is to align foundation investments with their mission while maintaining long-term targeted financial returns.

According to the Foundation Center, assets of  U.S. foundations totaled over $530 billion (year-end 2008) -- a decline of 21.9% from the previous year.  The More for Mission Campaign has taken as its goal the generation of $10 billion worth of new mission investment commitments over the next five years.

Primary goals of the Campaign are to:

• Support mission investing in practice with the intent of growing mission investing activity.  For example, an increase in investments totaling 2% of endowments would generate approximately $10 billion more in foundation commitments.

• Create a network of foundations that are committed to advancing mission investing within their organizations and beyond.

• Facilitate a robust mission investment environment that is encouraged and supported by the development of a broad range of informational and institutional resources for investors.

• Generate the knowledge necessary for an informed group of investors to leverage their portfolios to support their mission.