Finance and investment

Our income comes from the interest on our investments. We do not fundraise or receive funding from the Government. We are financially and politically independent.

Investment Committee
The Investment Committee is responsible for devising and delivering our investment strategy in accordance with the trustees’ financial objectives. These objectives are to maintain our endowment in real terms whilst generating a consistent amount to spend on our charitable activities.

We plan for a long term nominal return of 8% per annum. Asset allocation is 10% in Gilts, 70% in global equities and 20% in private assets. We aim to distribute 4.5% of the average market value of the previous twelve quarters.

The Investment Committee comprises three Trustees and two external experts appointed by Trustees. It operates under terms of reference set by Trustees. The two external experts, together with the Director of the Foundation and the Finance Director, form a sub-committee which conducts regular, routine business on behalf of the committee.

Current members

James Banks (Trustee)
Vivian Bazalgette (external investment adviser)
Colette Bowe (Trustee)
David Erskine (external investment adviser)
David Rhind (Chairman of Trustees)

_________________________________________________________

James Banks

James Banks was appointed Trustee in January 2013. He is Professor of Economics at the University of Manchester and Deputy Research Director at the Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS).

James has a PhD in Economics from University College London (UCL). He joined IFS in 1990 and led its research into consumption and savings from 1992-1999. He was appointed Deputy Director there in 1997, changing roles five years later to become Deputy Research Director, alongside a new role as Professor of Economics at UCL. He took up his current post at the University of Manchester in 2010, and splits his time between this role and his work for IFS.

James is Co-Principal Investigator of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, Co-Director of the ESRC Centre for the Microeconomic Analysis of Public Policy, and chair of the Understanding Society Scientific Advisory Committee.

_________________________________________________________

Vivian Bazalgette

Vivian Bazalgette was educated at Cambridge University and has over thirty years' experience of investment markets. He has been an executive director on two fund management company boards and his last full time role was as Chief Investment Officer of Prudential M&G.

His charitable involvements have included the Investment Committee of St. John's College, Cambridge and King's College Hospital Charity as a trustee. Currently, he is on the Advisory Board of Greenwich Hospital, the Board of Governors of Dulwich College and the Board of the Dulwich Estate. Vivian is also a non-executive director of three investment trusts and advises BAE Systems Pension Fund as well as being a member of the Investment Committee of St. James's Place PLC, the wealth manager.

Dr Colette Bowe

Colette was appointed Trustee in December 2011. She is Chairman of communications regulator Ofcom, and a founder and former chairman of its Consumer Panel. She is also Chairman of Electra Private Equity plc, and a Board Member of Axa Deutschland GmBH, and the UK Statistics Authority. Colette is also a Governor of Bancrofts School, and trustee of the Tablet Trust.

She began her career at the Department of Trade and Industry, before undertaking senior roles at the former Independent Broadcasting Authority and the Securities and Investment Board.

Colette was formerly Chief Executive of the Personal Investment Authority and Executive chairman of Fleming Fund Management. She has a PhD in economics from Queen Mary College, where she was later appointed Chairman of the College Council. She is a former member of the board of management of the National Institute for Economic and Social Research.

David Erskine MA FCCA

David Erskine holds a variety of non-executive positions. He is a member of the Investment Committee of The Atlantic Philanthropies Group; the Advisory Board of a Scandinavian family office; the Investment Advisory Committees of two Funds of Hedge Funds; and the Board of a Luxembourg SICAV.

Both an economist and an accountant by training, David was previously the Chief Investment Officer of The Atlantic Philanthropies from 1999 to 2005; head of the Multi-Manager business at Global Asset Management from 1995 to 1999; and Investment Manager of the IBM United Kingdom Pensions Trust from 1988 to 1995.

Professor David Rhind CBE FRS Hon FBA

Professor David Rhind was appointed Chairman in 2010. He has been a Trustee since 2008.

Professor Rhind is also Chair of the government’s Advisory Panel on Public Sector Information and Chair of Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust Board. He is Deputy Chair of the UK Statistics Authority and has previously held posts as a Director on the Court of the Bank of England and Vice Chancellor and President of City University in London.

Until 1998, Professor Rhind was Director General of the Ordnance Survey and oversaw the creation of the world’s first national digital topographic database. He has been a member of the Economic and Social Research Council and Chaired the Academy of Social Sciences’ Commission on the Social Sciences.

Professor Rhind holds the rare distinction of being both an elected Fellow of the Royal Society and an Honorary Fellow of the British Academy.

Finance and investment

See also