Finance and Investments
As a foundation board member, you will be making important financial decisions for a legal entity that is regulated by the Internal Revenue Service and state agencies. You will assume legal and ethical duties of obedience, loyalty, and care to the foundation.
In this section, you will review a sample family foundation investment process, a short questionnaire to establish a framework for your investment-related decisions, and other articles, tools, and webinars for monitoring and managing finances and investments at your foundation. For a wide variety of additional resources on this topic, search NCFP’s Family Philanthropy Online Knowledge Center.
REVIEW: Sample Investment Process for a Family Foundation
This short document describes the process one family foundation went through to establish its investment goals and priorities, select an investment manager, and develop, execute, and monitor its investment plan.
READ: The Market Ride – Implications for Funders and Their Grantees
No one and no foundation likes to see 10 or 20% of net worth or net assets disappear in the blink of an eye. But there are important lessons from past swings for family foundation boards and donors.
REVIEW: Asset Class Performance Grid
A visual presentation of the need to diversify your assets, this “Broad Asset Class Performance” quilt shows the variance in best and worst performing asset classes over a 13-year period.
ACTIVITY: Investment Questionnaire
Taking this short questionnaire will help you to establish a framework for all investment-related decisions. The answers to this questionnaire will aid in the development of the investment policy statement, as well as the asset allocation, manager selection, ongoing evaluation, and reporting requirements for your portfolio.
READ: Getting Started with Impact Investing: Overcoming Resistance from Family and Board Members
This article presents practical solutions and advice regarding one of the most commonly cited challenges for getting started in impact/mission investing: getting internal buy-in.
READ: Rethinking the Management of Foundation Endowments
This essay by the long-time COO of The Commonwealth Fund offers lessons from the 2008-09 financial crisis and earlier ones that could help boards and investment committees responsible for foundation endowments avoid mistakes going forward.
READ: Impact Investing: A Primer for Family Foundations
This primer is a guide for families looking to align and activate their foundation’s assets to achieve their social and environmental objectives while meeting their foundation’s financial needs.
WATCH: Managing Investment Risk: Board Responsibilities for Prudent Investment and Governance
This webinar shares guidance on the board’s fiduciary duties in prudent investing. Included are audits, conflicts of interest, investment rules and more to help protect your foundation and board members. Friends and subscribers only.
WATCH: Mission Investing – Overcoming Resistance and Getting Started
How can you engage your board in a thoughtful conversation about the options and added benefits of mission investing? What are the best ways to get started with mission investing, and how do family foundations, especially those with limited staff capacity, manage these new strategies to better leverage their philanthropic assets and mission? Friends and subscribers only.
WATCH: Impact Investing and Family Philanthropy: A One-two Punch
As a means for providing capital to for-profit ventures with a social mission, impact investing is increasingly viewed as an effective solution for combining the philanthropic aspirations of wealthy families with their financial objectives. This webinar focuses on how to successfully manage your wealth for impact and profit in a manner that aligns with your philanthropic goals. Friends and subscribers only