The philanthropic sector has seen increasing interest in supplementing outright grants with investments designed to achieve social impact. Program Related Investments (PRI) are one such strategy. They have allowed US foundations to draw on the innovation and expertise of the private sector to advance their charitable missions. Join us for a conversation of practitioners and scholars to discuss the promise, limitations, and nuts and bolts of PRIs, informed by case studies of PRIs made by the Gates Foundation and other foundations participating in the event.

The event is motivated by a study of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s PRIs by ImpactAlpha and Stanford University professor Paul Brest. Their work appears in a special Stanford Social Innovation Review, which supplement that examines how the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation uses program-related investments—loans, equity stakes, and guarantees—to complement its traditional grant making, and includes a report, “Investing Impact with Program Related Investments,” by Stanford Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society’s Faculty Co-Director, Paul Brest. ssir.org/supplement/making_markets_work_for_the_poor