“Philanthropic assets” and “philanthropic asset portfolio” are used as all-encompassing terms for the resources that an individual or organization has decided to put towards philanthropic purposes. This category includes funding set aside for grants or charitable donations, money held in donor-advised funds (DAFs), family office resources, foundation endowments, and other vehicles. The idea underlying impact-first investments is that if an institution explicitly or implicitly allocates some of these assets to philanthropic objectives, they should prioritize the overall social impact of that asset portfolio. To achieve that goal, one can use a combination of traditional investments, grants, and impact-first investments.
