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Investment strategy

When the Nuffield Foundation reviewed its investment strategy in 2003 it held discussions with many other charitable foundations. It was clear there were a set of common issues we all faced but which were not regularly discussed. In particular there were important areas where charitable endowments had requirements and opportunities that differed from those of other institutional investors such as pension funds. Over the years we have maintained this interest in how endowments, as opposed to pension funds, invest their assets, and how professional advice is tailored to the different requirements of a perpetual foundation.

The first seminar (in 2003) explored the effect of different and in particular the long term effect of investing for a total return or for income. This seminar led to a series of four on the theme of ‘investing charitable endowments’. These seminars explored some of the issues that affect Foundations’ investment behaviour. A summary of the topics discussed is available here. A further seminar was organised to discuss the concept of 'fecundity' of assets in relation to long term models of sustainable spending.

Seminar reports are published below:

Investment Strategies
Risk
Governance
Long Term Returns and Distributions
Endowments, Volatility and Time (Fecundity)

Last Updated Thu, 20 December 2007