I attended a session yesterday that focused on mission related investing (investing in ways that further the mission of the foundation). Perla Ni, founder of Stanford Social Innovation Review, has already posted on the session so I won’t duplicate her work (I met Perla last night at the awards ceremony, you should see the fireworks display of ideas that goes off when you get her talking about something she’s passionate about).
Like Perla, I was particular impressed by the passion of Doug Stamm, executive director of Meyer Memorial Trust. Guess what? Meyer Memorial has a blog. With only six posts this year, maybe what they actually have is a potential blog. I would love to hear from Doug and others at the foundation about their views on mission related investing.
They actual started the blog in 2005. Here’s their first post:
Some have advised us not to open our website to invite visitors to tell us what they think. They tell us that foundations usually keep themselves above the fray and more removed from direct and open exchange with nonprofits and anyone who happens by. But that’s not the kind of foundation we want to be. We want to open ourselves to those we serve because we think that makes us stronger and better at what we aim to do.
What do you think? Are we being naive or do you think this is a healthy move for a foundation?
They got 31 comments (I’ve never gotten that big of a response) with all 31 telling them that starting a blog was a great idea. Maybe with a little coaxing, MMT can join the blogging community and enter the conversation on a regular basis.