Impact Investing

Accelerating and amplifying impact
Advancing a mission-aligned portfolio and innovative partnerships.

All investments have impact

MakeWay is on a journey to ensure that all our investments generate net positive social and environmental returns, alongside financial returns.

To get there, we’re developing an investment portfolio that furthers our mission. We were an early adopter of responsible investing and one of the first foundations in Canada to go fossil-fuel free. Today, we’re pushing the envelope further to increase transparency in the sector, create new solutions and partnerships for impact investing within philanthropy, and share learnings across this rapidly expanding field.

Portfolio Approach

We are actively refining our investment portfolio to align more capital with our mission, through:

1. Negative Screens

MakeWay’s portfolio screens out certain investments that we believe have a significant negative impact on communities and the environment. For example, our portfolio excludes investment in fossil fuels.

2. Environmental, Social and Governance Ratings

Investing in companies, organizations or funds with strong environment, social and governance practices.

3. Shareholder Engagement

Using active ownership strategies, primarily through our partnership with SHARE, we will engage with investee companies to encourage social and environmental performance improvement and responsible corporate governance through engagement, including letter writing, meetings, proxy voting, and shareholder resolutions.

4. Net Positive Impact Investments

Investing in companies, organizations, and funds that intentionally generate measurable net positive impacts.

Read MakeWay’s Investment Policy.

MakeWay Investments

We share details of MakeWay’s investment portfolio each quarter – a practice that we hope increases throughout the philanthropic sector. MakeWay is committed to increasing transparency around our investments moving forward, as we learn more and advance our investment strategy.

As of March 31, 2023, the total market value of MakeWay’s investment portfolio was $44.5m.

Manager
Investment
Market Value ($000’s)
Addenda Capital
Impact Fixed Income Pooled Fund
$16,189
Multiple
ChangeCapital
$1,120
Genus Capital Management
Canadian T-Bills
$86
Genus Capital Management
Cedar Fund (Impact DAF)
$1,096
Genus Capital Management
Global Impact Bond
$388
Genus Capital Management
Fossil Free CanGlobe Equity Fund
$13,183
Genus Capital Management
Fossil Free High Impact Equity Fund
$961
Mackenzie Investments
Greenchip Global Equity Fund
$11,081
Renewal Funds
Renewal2 Fund
$408

Innovative Solutions

We host over 140 funds advised by both donors and communities, to mobilize philanthropy to advance community-led change for social and environmental well-being. All our advised funds are invested in a fossil fuel-free portfolio. Learn more about community and donor advised funds at MakeWay.

MakeWay offers the country’s first fully-customizable 100% impact invested donor advised fund – ImpactDAF. This unique philanthropic vehicle provides the grantmaking functions of a donor advised fund, while also activating the underlying investments for positive impact. Learn more.

MakeWay created Change Capital for donors to amplify the social and environmental return of each dollar given. Funds donated through Change Capital were invested in social and environmental focused enterprises e.g. loans to create social housing or equity investments that build a green economy. As the investments generate both a financial and social return over 10 years, at the end of the investment term, the returns and capital can be granted to charities. While we are no longer accepting contributions to Change Capital, check out our ImpactDAF, Canada’s first fully-customizable 100% impact invested donor advised fund.

Investment Committee

An incredible group of leaders with deep experience that ensure MakeWay’s investments are managed well, and our investment policy is put into action.

Impactful Partnerships

We partner with many aligned organizations to create new impact investing opportunities and solutions, and to expand the field of impact investment across the country.
Recognizing the need to develop and support the growth of impact investing, and help make funds available for social good, in 2013 MakeWay joined with Vancity Community Foundation, the Bealight Foundation, the Trico Foundation, and Reseau D’Investissement Social Du Quebec to form the New Market Funds Society (NMFS). These organizations. NMFS is a community-focused impact investment intermediary, with a goal to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of charities in the communities they serve.

MakeWay is an active member of SHARE, an organization that mobilizes investors to build a sustainable, inclusive economy. Through our participation in the Shareholder Engagement Program, MakeWay leverages our voice as a shareholder to advocate for corporate sustainability policies and practices that support a healthy planet and a fair and just society.

MakeWay is a participating member of Impact United, a broad-based community and movement of investors seeking to mobilize capital towards social, economic, and environmental justice, comprised of individual investors, families, institutions, faith-based organizations, foundations, and other asset owners.