The W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF) has released a new resource for the field, Mission Aligned Framework for Investing, which explores ways to evaluate mission-related investments (MRIs).

WKKF shares that in 2008 the foundation allocated $100 million of its endowment for market rate MRIs. A decade later, the foundation’s deep commitment to MRIs and program-related investments (PRIs) continues.

“Our goal is to strategically disrupt the status quo in capital market practices — to drive capital to low-income communities and communities of color in order to widen pathways to opportunity,” La June Montgomery Tabron, president and CEO of WKKF writes in the report. “We invest, learn and refine our approaches — continuously honing our strategy to better align our mission for children with market conditions.”

The Mission Aligned Framework for Investing is a management and governance tool, intended to provide insights around investments of any type or size.

The framework includes four key areas:

• Alignment and evidence: How aligned is the impact an investee creates to the investor’s mission?

• Measurement quality: Can the impact be measured and at what level?

• Impact scalability: How scalable is the impact the investee is creating?

• Disruption opportunity: What potential does the investee have of creating broader systemic change with its activities?

The report provides an in-depth look at each of these four key areas and also applies them to case studies featuring three investments from WKKF’s portfolio to show what this can look like in action.

One of the case studies highlights Revolution Foods, a company that designs, produces and delivers two million freshly prepared and healthy meals every week to school districts, food programs, community centers and early childhood centers.

The team analyzed student performance in schools served by Revolution Foods and those which were not to see if a strong connection existed between good nutrition and academic performance.

The findings:

• Schools served by Revolution Foods had a pass rate of 13.1 percent higher on the English Language Arts (ELA) exam than the schools that did not receive the company’s food.

• The effects on the math exam and attendance were positive but small: less than 1 percent difference.

• Long-term change in eating behaviors requires time, and more positive effects could likely be seen over a longer period.

When it comes to “alignment and evidence” Revolution Foods received a high score in the framework as its healthy meals and the high-quality jobs it provides align to WKKF’s mission.

As for scalability, Revolution Foods which currently serves 17 states received a 4/8 in the assessment due to the fact starting operations in a new state requires strong school and community partnerships and the costs for scaling can be high due to the need for more workers, product, facilities and transportation.

Among the three investments examined in the report, Revolution Foods received a lower “disruption” score. The report states that to achieve “the company’s long-term goal of building lifelong healthy eaters, the company needs to continue to work to ensure that their impact on children’s eating habits extends beyond one healthy meal provided at lunch time.”

Revolution Foods is working on doing so by providing breakfasts, snacks and dinners in some areas and expanding to grocery stores.

WKKF’s hope is that this tool can serve as a resource to field in MRIs.

“The team at KKS Advisors partnered with us to measure the effect of an investment on the economy writ large — including social return on investments. What they were able to do was to build a rubric by which we could begin to understand the weighting of social return,” Montgomery said.

Want more?

Read Mission Aligned Framework for Investing.

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