Ever wonder how Community Foundation funds are invested and managed? We checked in with Kathy Pope, our vice president and chief financial officer, and Bill Alsover, chair of our Board of Trustees and Investment Committee, to get more details on this important component of the Community Foundation’s operations.
Our investments provide funding for the Community Foundation’s grants to nonprofits and scholarships to students. To fulfill our mission, we must maintain a pool of assets sufficient to build community capital for future use with the corresponding obligation to support current and future community needs. The primary goal is to provide for long-term growth of the investments without undue financial risk to help meet the Community Foundation’s spending goals.
The Community Foundation has an Investment Policy Statement that provides the philosophy and investment objectives for investing our funds and standards for monitoring investment performance.
Our investment strategy utilizes an allocation between asset classes (stocks, bonds, cash, and others). The allocation of the investments is diversified so they are not subject to large changes in value due to market fluctuations. The most important decision is to reduce risk and accomplish long-term success.
To oversee our investments, we have a five- to seven-member Investment Committee made up of trustees and community members with an investment background. The Investment Committee works with an outside investment consultant that provides investment reporting, education, and recommendations to the committee.
