Endowments and Foundations - Articles & White Papers
Institutional research and articles covering investment policy and practices at endowments, foundations, non-profits and charities. A number of white papers examine the so-called "endowment model" pioneered by the Harvard and Yale endowments; a well-diversified portfolio with a relatively high allocation to alternative investments. Other popular papers examine trends in asset allocation... by endowments and foundations, the quest for performance, and the potential for US foundation endowments to impact the world positively, investing according to an ESG or SRI philosophy. A key challenge for endowments, foundations and charities is to withdraw cash in a sustainable manner, and a number of reports look at sustainable "withdrawal rates". A number of broader investment concepts are considered from an endowment/foundation perspective, such as the outsourced chief investment officer (OCIO) model, risk management and active equity investment. Further research articles and surveys in this section cover issues related to endowment performance, investment risk tolerance, and strategies for nonprofit institutional investors.
Climate change presents a potential systemic risk to the financial system. This 60-page guide by the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change aims to serve as a ‘how-to guide’ for institutional investors who are beginning to construct and conduct scenario analysis.
bfinance's 2018 Asset Owner Survey is the firm's largest investor research study to date. It provides invaluable insights into some of the key challenges faced by asset owners around the world. Key themes examined include: entering new asset classes; improving diversification; active, passive and smart beta; ESG in practice…
The Asset Owner 100 is a new Thinking Ahead Institute study which gathers data on the total assets of the top 100 asset owners around the world. The study includes data on pension funds, outsourced CIOs (OCIOs), sovereign wealth funds, endowments and foundations. The largest 100 asset owners in the world represent…
Healthcare systems and hospitals are adapting to various opportunities and challenges afoot in their operating environment. This report by Goldman Sachs Asset Management highlights the varied investment practices that healthcare systems and hospitals pursue, often dependent on an organization’s resources and overall…
For an endowment seeking to minimize payout variability while preserving the long-run health of the institution, appropriate spending policy is a crucial choice. The authors of this report study two competing methods for setting spending policy—the “movingaverage” method and the “snakein-the-tunnel” (SIT) approach. They show…
For the fifth successful year, Newton Investment Management has conducted a survey among leaders and decision makers in the UK charity sector. This report covers diverse aspects of the management of charitable portfolios, and provides an industry benchmark to see how aligned managers' investment experience and…
Institutions go on forever, but chief investment officers unfortunately don't. Five-year returns give us a good -- albeit imperfect - picture of how CIOs are doing their jobs. A longer timeframe would blur the responsibility for results as CIOs come and go. In our chart below, the median tenure of CIOs happens to be…
When it comes to creating alpha, fixed-income managers that stay ahead of rapidly evolving technology will have an advantage over those that remain stuck in the analog world. But how do you assess how well your manager is navigating the changing technological landscape?
The Common Good Retirement Plan aims to strengthen retirement security of those working in Canada’s nonprofit and charitable sector, primarily through exploring the creation of a nationally portable, high-quality collective retirement plan for the sector. This paper advances the initiative by engaging with nonprofit sector…
This paper provides insights into Meketa Investment Group’s process for setting the appropriate pace of commitments for private market programs. The output of our process is an annual commitment budget designed to approach or maintain our clients’ target allocations to each private market asset class. The commitment pacing…
Higher-equity market valuations have prompted many of our nonprofit clients to inquire about how to protect their organization's assets and related spending streams against potential market downturns. Our investment consultants in Vanguard Institutional Advisory Services® (VIAS™) can help your organization examine its…
