Investing Today for Tomorrow’s World: Impact Investing Report 2022

Since 2015, the Daniel and Nina Carasso Foundation has chosen to align its financial portfolio in coherence with its social mission in the service of a just and sustainable transition. In 2022, despite a relatively lower financial performance in a very challenging market context, we have continued to pursue new investment projects that have contributed to a just and green transition. We share the results and achievements in this field in our 2022 Impact Investment Report.

Act in line with our mission and vision

A distributive foundation like ours has two main activities: asset management and philanthropy. For us, it is essential to link these two activities to achieve the impact we want to have in our two lines of action, Sustainable Food and Citizen Art. Following the sale of its historical holdings in 2015, the Foundation has implemented a financial and asset allocation strategy consistent with its corporate mission. Sustainable investments or SRI (which systematically and traceably incorporate environmental, social and governance criteria), transition to a low-carbon economy, financing of positive impact solutions, initial financing of innovative projects, creation of a collaborative space dedicated to the social economy… the Foundation’s financial assets are designed to complement and amplify its actions and vision.

Investment in the service of a just and green

transitionTo structure this strategy, in 2016 we introduced an Investment Code to define guidelines that apply to all investments and are based on the commitments made by DivestInvest, a global movement of investors pushing to exit emitters from the fossil fuel sector. A veritable compass for the Foundation’s financial management, the Code provides a framework for investment policy, in terms of mission, values and profitability. It excludes certain sectors and specifies preferred investment themes.

In 2022, we strengthened our investments in traditional asset classes by moving them towards the transition to a low-carbon economy. This materialized, for example, in shares listed within thematic funds dedicated to the fight against climate change.

Fostering solutions for positive impact

Impact investing is a form of financing that goes beyond reducing the carbon footprint. It consists of selecting companies that offer positive impact solutions and working with them on the ground to create fairer value chains.

Since 2018, in Spain and France, we have been financing, through loans and capital investments, companies in the agri-food sector that provide concrete solutions to the necessary food transition. With the support of Quadia, the FDNC-SFS fund continued to deploy its capital in 2022 with the entry of 4 new companies in the portfolio: Baluchon, Poiscaille, Nous anti-gaspi and Ideel Garden. Proof that, despite inflation, innovative models for more sustainable food chains continue to be developed. Among the companies financed through these funds are two Spanish companies: Smileat, a company that aims to revolutionise children’s nutrition by creating healthy and sustainable products, and La Osa coop, a cooperative supermarket with affordable prices for quality food. In late 2022, the Foundation also opened the FDNC-SFS fund to the Anyama endowment fund. This is a first, and reinforces the fund’s initial desire to mobilise other investors in support of its impact targets, thereby allocating more capital to companies offering sustainable food solutions.

The year 2022 was also marked by the development of our new Tiina seed fund: its objective is to support and finance innovative projects of companies and start-ups with social and/or environmental impact and profitability potential to create a real transformation in their ecosystem. Carried out in Spain with the Ship2B Foundation, the 8 projects selected in 2022 benefited from training and coaching to fine-tune and improve their proposals during a business bootcamp. Those that were dedicated to Citizen Art were: Aptent (Madrid and Catalonia), Another Way Association (Madrid), AulaFilm (Las Espigadoras) (Madrid) and LaJoven (Madrid). To improve the Sustainable Food ecosystem, the following projects were selected: Wonderfood (Madrid), Quesería Jaramera (Madrid), Colectiva (Menjadors Ecològics) (Catalonia) and Biotremol (Valencian Community). In France, this program is carried out with Miimosa and MakeSense. The aim is to have an impact on climate, health and nutrition, biodiversity and regeneration, accessibility to healthy products and fair value chains.

Focus Cartae: accompanying our collaborators

For two years now, we have been refining our proposal to support the entities, projects and people in our ecosystem through the Cartae program in Spain. This extra-financial support aims to build the capacity of non-profit organizations, helping them to be more resilient, more resilient and increasing their impact on society. This contributes to creating more effective and sustainable organizations, capable of facing the challenges they face.

The wide range of solutions we propose encompasses the improvement of the organisation’s capacities and operational effectiveness (management, leadership, fundraising, communication, etc.), organisational development (internal structure, effective management systems, governance…), access to networks (exchange of good practices, forums for common banquets, networking with agents of the foundation’s network, etc.) or project management (accounting management, cycle, evaluation of results and impact measurement…).

Infinito Delicias: a new place of connection, experimentation and innovation in Madrid

Since this impact investment project began to be outlined in 2018, the world has changed a lot, but at the Daniel and Nina Carasso Foundation we continue to move towards the goal of developing Infinito Delicias, which will house in one of its many spaces the Sustainable Food and Citizen Art solutions implemented by the Foundation and its collaborators to face the challenges of the future. During the year 2022, the architectural project and the economic model have been more clearly defined. This 2700 m² building, located in the Madrid neighborhood of Delicias, has 400 m² of auditorium and space for workshops and 160 m² for gardens and interior orchards.

In 2022, connections were established with neighbors and local utilities to share the energy that will be produced by future photovoltaic installations. Both the architectural design, the activities and the programming have been conceived as a response to the problems of climate emergency and social justice. That is why in 2023, the project has received the “Gold Prize-Europe 2023” award, awarded to the most sustainable building in Europe, for promoting “social, sustainable and economic circularity, inclusion and community through a new urban paradigm”.