Family Firms as Prominent Investment Organizations of Social Finance: An Empirical Analysis of U.S. Family Foundations

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Abstract

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

Keywords: social finance, family firm, family foundation