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Impact Investing vs. ESG: Defining Mission-Aligned Investing
Ask ten investment professionals what "mission-aligned investing" means and you are likely to get ten different answers. Some will say environmental, social and governance (ESG). Others will say...
AI Considerations in Portfolio Management: A CIO’s View
In this episode of Espresso Chats, Commonfund Institute's Amanda Novello, Associate Director, sits down with Julia Mord, Chief Investment Officer at Commonfund OCIO, to close out our AI investment... Learn More
Celebrate! 25 Years of NBOA: The Endowment Landscape
A deep dive into independent school endowment's trends FY2005-FY2022, including analysis of asset allocation, performance, spending and contributions, plus a perspective on future developments....
Including Risk Management in Your Investment Policy Statement – Where to Begin
Investment policy statements usually contain a section that purports to define the institution’s risk tolerance. But they frequently only gesture in the direction of risk, without actually examining...
In Private Equity Buyouts Operational Expertise Is the Key to Unlocking Value
A successful private equity buyout is often credited to shrewd financial diligence—overlooking sector-specific operating expertise where hidden value is uncovered. Mega-buyouts may capture the...
Yesterday's Sector Laggards are Today's Leaders
Much to the surprise of market participants, global stocks have risen at an impressive pace year to date despite significant macroeconomic headwinds and regional bank troubles. In what can be deemed...
Shaping Your Board - Key Considerations for Success
The structure of a board can help, or hamper, its effectiveness, and consideration of these matters is important to improving a board’s performance. Factors such as size, board chair, diversity and...
The Forman Acton Foundation
A Community's Inheritance is a Scholar's Love of Learning Forman Acton valued education, no doubt about that: bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Princeton, a PhD in mathematics from Carnegie...
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,...
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...
The State as a Shareholder: Government Equity Stakes