The Gambrell Foundation’s proprietary Values-Aligned Investment (“VAI”) framework is portrayed in the accompanying diagram, representing how we view the foundation’s investment portfolio and categorize the different types of investment holdings.
The portfolio is comprised of two overarching buckets: Classic Investments and VAIs.
Classic Investments consist of traditional holdings, such as shares of Google or a U.S. corporate bond, which we only track the financial return.
The second bucket, VAIs, comprises traditional holdings analyzed via an unconventional lens tracking both the financial return and non-financial return (e.g. impact return, social return, environmental return, etc.)
Within VAIs, there are three groupings: zero-rate investments (i.e. grants) produce no return, below-market investments (e.g. Program-Related Investments or PRIs) yield subpar returns and market-rate investments generate competitive returns.
Provided grants do not generate a financial return for the foundation, other sections of the website elaborate on the foundation’s grant-making in greater detail.
A PRI, or a recyclable, interest-bearing grant, must satisfy the following criteria:
PRIs are customizable. For example, a low interest loan to a small business owned by members of economically disadvantaged groups, where commercial funds at reasonable interest rates are not readily available. Or, a loan guarantee or letter of credit to enhance a charitable organization’s creditworthiness in a third-party loan transaction.
Within market-rate investments, we classify investments into the following three subcategories: