Family firms as prominent investment organizations of social finance: an empirical analysis of U.S. family foundations

This chapter suggests including family firms among the leading investors of the social finance market. Although social finance literature has largely overlooked them, we argue that large family firms possess the financial (e.g., profitability, capital structure, liquidity) and non-financial (e.g., continuity, community, connections, and command) characteristics allowing them to generate meaningful societal impact. To support our view, we examined 46 U.S. family foundations and 478 social finance transactions taking place from 2002 to 2019. This pilot study indicates that family firms, through their family foundations, are already playing a significant role in the social finance arena by providing social entrepreneurs with equity and debt capital as well as grants.