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Purpose-Driven Governance in the Nonprofit Sector
Join host George Suttles, Executive Director of Commonfund Institute in this episode of "Espresso Chats," a series by the Commonfund Institute serving up strong, short shots of governance and... Learn More
Taking a Regional Perspective
The Commonfund Benchmarks Study® of Independent Schools (CSIS) report provides and analysis of the investment and governance policies and practices of U.S. independent day and boarding schools. For...
Hedge Funds: Is Now Their Time to Shine?
Diversification may be underappreciated when both equity and fixed income allocations have been broadly positive. With both these allocations facing significant and potentially long-lasting...
Drafting Your Investment Policy Statement: 10 Critical Issues
Endowed institutions differ in their missions, capabilities and resources, and investment policy statements naturally mirror these differences. In that sense, there is no single ‘right’ investment...
Bond Market Expectations Take a Wild Ride
In today’s environment, commentary can seemingly become stale in periods as short as hours, let alone days. Just last month, we wrote how despite tightening lending conditions from banks, other...
CIO Roundtable - A Discussion on Investment Stewardship
At the 25th annual Commonfund Forum, in Boca Raton, Florida, we hosted a distinguished panel of CIOs who shared their perspectives on portfolio management. They discussed their best investment ideas,...
Is the Future Bright for Secondaries?
The continued growth of private equity may lead to a bright future for secondaries as: ~$12.7 trillion of capital has been raised in the last 15 years in private equity, and Over 43,500 funds have...
Study of Independent Schools - Key Highlights [Infographic] 2022
For fiscal year 2022, independent schools reported an average return (net of fees) on their endowment assets of -11.3 percent. In this infographic, we report the key highlights from the 2022...
Secular Changes and Challenges Facing Nonprofits Today
Commonfund recently hosted its 25th annual Commonfund Forum, February 13-15th, in Boca Raton, Florida. The agenda included a range of sessions on relevant topics for institutional investors. This...
NACUBO and Commonfund Partner on Higher Education Endowment Research
Partnership to produce 50th annual Study of Endowments WILTON, CT, and WASHINGTON, DC, March 13, 2023 – Commonfund and the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO)...
Celebrating Women's History Month
Women's History Month 2023 | Celebrating Women Who Tell Our Stories Women’s History Month is an annual declared month that highlights the contributions of women to events in history and contemporary...
Spending Policy | Old Technology Still Dominates
Every year I eagerly await the release of the NACUBO Study of Endowments (NTSE) and, when I finally get it, I read it cover-to-cover. Despite reading all 195 pages, the two most frequent questions I...
Commonfund Survey Finds Investors are Optimistic in 2023
Institutional investors representing $849 billion in total assets attended this year’s Commonfund Forum. Survey respondents cite ongoing interest rate hikes and geopolitical tensions as top economic...
More Than Multiples: Understanding the Broader Drivers of Equity Valuations
The S&P 500 has produced a ~25 percent annualized return for the three successive years ending September 2025, a banner period of performance.