Impact investing: the Special Jury Prize for the Foundation!

On Thursday, December 8, 2022, the Daniel and Nina Carasso Foundation received the Special Jury Prize of the Instit Invest Crowns, which rewards institutional investors for the adoption of good practices in communication and financial management. This award highlights our impact fund created with Quadia to accelerate the agricultural and food transition.

An investment policy in line with our mission

Since 2015, we have chosen to put our investment strategy, based on our endowment, in line with our sponsorship missions at the service of an ecological, inclusive and fulfilling transition, with the desire to support the economic players who are building the sustainable economy of tomorrow. We intervene responsibly in the financial markets, both by committing to Socially Responsible Investments (SRI) strategies, but also through impact investments.

From 2015 to 2021, the Foundation committed €46 million in impact investments, or 9% of its portfolio. The objective is to reach €75 million by the end of 2023. At the same time, 83% of the portfolio was invested in Socially Responsible Investments (SRI).

In our impact investment strategy, particularly in the sustainable food value chain and more generally in the low-carbon transition, the challenge is to identify models that provide solutions for a sustainable and inclusive world. We invest in funds that support growing, often innovative companies that are always breaking away. The Foundation is thus betting on the change of scale of these players and their ability to move the lines.

This approach was rewarded during an exceptional evening organized by Agefi during which Instit Invest, an independent news site, awarded the Crown Awards to eight institutional investors.

Let’s accelerate the agricultural and food transition through impact investing

This Special Jury Prize is a more specific reward for our FDNC-SFS impact fund, created in partnership with Quadia, and dedicated to innovative players in the agricultural and food transition. Quadia is a Swiss company that pioneers impact investing with innovative and transformative private companies in their value chain that develop solutions with a positive social and environmental impact.

The FDNC-SFS Fund, according to its theory of change, invests in bold companies that are reinventing their economies and influencing their sector by providing impactful and exemplary solutions to accelerate the transformation towards healthy, people-friendly and ecosystem-regenerative food. Currently endowed with €7 million, the mandate will reach €10 million by the end of 2023. At the end of September 2022, €4.8 million had been invested in a portfolio of 12 holdings in France and Spain. Half of the companies have an SSE or ESUS status.

On the value chain, from seeds to Internet tools for distribution and consumption, entrepreneurs are inventing a new economy that takes into account the challenges of sustainability and the preservation of our natural resources, but also employment and health issues, not to mention the pleasure of eaters. Integrating environmental and social impact into an investment strategy reduces future risks and positions the portfolio in a fairer economy.

Cover photo credit: François LE GUEN – Photoheart