National Philanthropic Trust Launches New Impact Investment Options for Donor-Advised Funds

Impact ETFs added to expanded investment line-up to help donors increase their philanthropic impact

National Philanthropic Trust (NPT) announced today the addition of four new impact investments to its donor-advised fund investment menu. The investments, all iShares ETFs, will offer donors investment options that have both social and financial returns.

“These new investments will offer our donors another way to increase their charitable impact,” said Eileen Heisman, President and CEO of National Philanthropic Trust. “There is a lot of interest in and research on impact investments right now. We want to honor our donors’ desire to create a double bottom line by investing their donor-advised fund assets to generate a social and financial return.”

NPT added the following impact investments to its investment menu:

• iShares MSCI EAFE ESG Optimized ETF (ESGD) – an index of developed market global companies that have been selected and weighted for positive environmental, social and governance characteristics. Companies are rated against a broader index based on risk factors related to environmental (e.g., carbon emissions, water use, toxic waste), social (e.g., labor management, health & safety, sourcing), and governance issues (e.g., corruption, fraud, anti-competitive practices).
• iShares Sustainable MSCI Global Impact (MPCT) - tracks the MSCI AWCI Sustainable Impact Index and is composed of global companies that derive at least 50% of their revenues from products and services that further the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. These goals focus on health and diet, sustainable energy and education.
• iShares MSCI KLD 400 Social ETF (DSI) - tracks a market-cap weighted index of 400 companies deemed to have positive environmental, social and governance characteristics and explicitly excludes firms that are significantly involved with weapons manufacturing, “vice” products, nuclear energy and genetic modification. The fund’s strategy is to overweight the technology sector and underweight both the financial and industrial sectors.
• iShares MSCI ACWI Low Carbon Target ETF (CRBN) - tracks the MSCI ACWI Low Carbon Target Index and is comprised of stocks of global firms selected for a bias toward lower carbon emissions.

About National Philanthropic Trust

Founded in 1996, NPT is the largest, national independent Donor-Advised Fund sponsor and has raised $8 billion in charitable contributions. NPT currently manages $4.3 billion in charitable assets and has made more than 178,000 grants totaling $4.3 billion to charities around the world. NPT annually publishes the Donor-Advised Fund Report, the industry’s authority on the state of DAF giving. In 2016, NPT published HistoryofGiving.org, the most comprehensive narrative about the past 500 years of philanthropy, including rarely accessed images, videos and documents. More at NPTrust.org.

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Media:For National Philanthropic TrustRichard Virgilio, [e-mail]