At a recent conference on impact investing, a fellow attendee asked me a question about navigating entry points in impact investing at a foundation whose board was concerned about risking financial returns in exchange for impact. There’s plenty of evidence that seeking impact does not have to mean compromising return (and, in fact, some foundations have recently reported outsized returns among mission-aligned portfolios). However, what occurred to me in that moment was that shareholder engagement should be low-hanging fruit for foundations — especially those looking to have an impact with their investments without making dramatic changes to their portfolios. Shareholder engagement offers an opportunity to use the investments you already own as a lever for motivating companies to improve their impact on people and the planet. Yet shareholder engagement is a tool infrequently used by foundations, seemingly due to opacity around how to engage and the resources needed to do so. A 2022 report from Confluence Philanthropy pointed to a lack of understanding, confusion about pathways to engagement, and concerns about capacity constraints as key barriers, while also noting that with the right resources and partners in place, “active ownership is a rewarding, efficient, and cost-effective means for addressing significant societal problems.”