Stewardship & Finance

INVESTMENT OBJECTIVES

The primary, long-term investment objective of the Community Foundation is to preserve real (inflation adjusted) purchasing power of the Foundation’s assets and earnings after accounting for investment returns, spending, and inflation. In order to achieve the preservation of assets, the annual spending rate determined by the Foundation will take into account the expected return on assets. The invested assets should earn a total rate of return that at a minimum equals or exceeds established benchmarks for each of the various classes of investments.

SPENDING POLICY

The amount to be distributed (spent) from the Foundation assets will be reviewed no less frequently than annually by the finance committee and appropriate recommendations made to the board of trustees. It is expected that the annual amount to be distributed from the Foundation’s invested assets will be between 3% and 5% of the average ending market values of the endowment funds for the previous 12 quarters. The distributions may be taken from current income or, if current income is less than planned spending, from principal. In addition, the finance committee will review and consider the appropriate amount to be held in highly liquid assets each year to ensure adequate cash flow.

RESPONSIBILITY FOR POLICY IMPLEMENTATION

The finance committee of the Foundation has the authority and responsibility to implement the Investment Policy and to oversee the investment managers. The finance committee also has the responsibility to make recommendations to the Board of Trustees regarding modification of the investment policy, and for the employment and/or dismissing of the Investment Manager.

The Foundation’s investment manager for its pooled invested assets is SEI Investments Company headquartered in Oaks, Pa.

ASSET SELECTION ALLOCATION

The Foundation’s investments shall be diversified to limit the specific risk associated with any single security or class of securities.  The Diversification will be both by asset class and, within asset classes, by economic sector, industry, and market capitalize.  Concentrations on one specific industry sector and concentrations in stock must not exceed 25% or in fixed income 4% for any one issuer (excluding US Government issues).  The asset classes shall consist of an equity portion, fixed income portion, alternatives and cash portion.  The equity portion may consist of investments in common stock, domestic and foreign (include large cap, mid cap, and small cap), and other securities that are convertible into common stock which are traded on U.S. Stock Exchanges. The cash potion shall consist of highly liquid short-term securities,  From time to time, the Finance Committee will set asset allocation targets within the following ranges: global equities, 60% of the portfolio; global fixed income and cash 30% of the portfolio; alternative investments 10% of the portfolio.