The Sasakawa Peace Foundation (SPF) is a Japanese private foundation established in 1986 with an endowment from the Nippon Foundation to enhance international cooperation. After merging with the Ocean Policy Research Foundation in 2015, SPF has set its focus on five key areas: to address a variety of societal challenges that fast-emerging Asian countries currently face, to stimulate greater socioeconomic progress through women s empowerment, to promote understanding and strengthen relationships with Muslim-majority countries, to further strengthen Japan U.S. relations, and lastly, to develop programs to promote the long-term sustainability of the world s oceans. SPF initiated its Innovative Finance Program in 2016 to explore novel mechanisms to advance social development in Asia through utilization of the full spectrum of philanthropic capital. This includes research to help foundations develop integrated program financing approaches that combine grant-making and impact investment and engagement in mission-aligned investing beyond traditional investing on endowment management.