Foundations face a number of possible investment expenses whose range is considerable. Be sure to ask questions of your investment managers or your consultant, and don’t accept fuzzy answers. Make reviewing these fees a regular leadership activity. A snapshot of typical fees Custodial fees—These fees are paid to an institution (e.g., bank) to hold your... Read More
Even small foundation boards can benefit from developing an investment committee with just a few members so it is clear who is leading the charge. Board members who understand investing make natural choices for an investment committee; however, they should serve alongside less experienced board members. (Be sure more than one experienced person is on... Read More
The field of behavioral finance has been a hot one of late as researchers define precisely the biases we all tend to exhibit as investors. How did behavioral finance originate? About 50 years ago, finance earned widespread respect as an academic discipline firmly grounded in economic models based on the rational behavior of humans. Over... Read More
Fiduciaries should avoid the following Investment practices: Not adhering to the investment policy statement—This is one of the most common mistakes cited by investment advisors to foundations. Self-dealing—Foundation insiders cannot direct investment decisions and/or revenues to self, relatives, close friends, or colleagues. Paying a family member to serve as an investment advisor—Doing so makes it... Read More
Your organization’s spending policy should be carefully selected after the thorough evaluation of several key inputs. A qualitative review of the type of organization, time horizon, beneficiaries, purpose of the endowment, sources of funding, institutional resources, applicable donor restrictions, and the investment policy statement should lead to a quantitative analysis that addresses: Annual operating expenses... Read More
By relying simply on stated fees, such as management fee or advisory fee, foundation trustees may be underestimating the full impact of the aggregate investment expenses because as there may be other components of investment costs that are not explicitly stated as fees. In the 1990s, when portfolio performance was beating the S&P 500, it... Read More