Non-profit Organisations and Socially Responsible Investments: The Case of Italian Foundations

Abstract

In times of turmoil and of meagre resources, both socially responsible investments (SRI) and non-profit organisations (NPOs) must strive hard to find new opportunities to make their activities more and more effective.

The possibility of using criteria other than the more traditional risk-return parameters has been on the agenda of various different fiduciaries. For NPOs, in particular, there seems to be a wide gap between the managing and the granting of funds.

This paper aims to investigate if, and to what extent, it is possible for NPOs, and for foundations in particular, to break down the barriers between mission attainment and investment policies. To do that a twofold interpretation of the foundations' fiduciary duty is proposed: the mission or institutional duty and the economic duty.