Venn Foundation, in collaboration with The Minnesota Council on Foundations (MCF), today released a first-of-its-kind report on the historical use of Program-Related Investments (PRIs) by Minnesota-based private foundations from 1998 to 2016. The PRI PulseTM   report gives Minnesota’s philanthropic and investment communities high-quality information on how PRIs have been used in the past, right when many of the state’s foundations are discussing how best to use them going forward.

ECMC Foundation today announced the launch of Education Innovation Ventures (EIV) to tap into the creative power of the private sector to solve problems of inequity in education. EIV uses program-related investments (PRIs), a funding tool made available to both for-profit and nonprofit enterprises. PRIs complement the Foundation's traditional grantmaking strategy, allowing it to unlock a wider spectrum of investment tools, including grants, loans, deposits, equity and guarantees, among others to fund innovative and scalable solutions that improve educational and career outcomes among students from underserved communities.