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In Memoriam: Mamak Shahbazi
It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Commonfund Board Member, Mamak Shahbazi. Mamak was a dedicated and talented board member and a great friend to the firm, its clients, and...
Summer Literary Journeys: A Pathway of Pages into Growth, Grit, and Collective Imagination
Commonfund Institute is excited to share our annual summer reading list, thoughtfully curated with recommendations from our Commonfund colleagues. Inspired by the spirit of the summer solstice –... Learn More
University of the Virgin Islands
These Buccaneers pursue a different treasure. There was a time when pirates plied the waters of the Caribbean in the pursuit of gold and other treasure. The Buccaneers mascot of the University of the...
University Corporation for Atmospheric Research
The Sky's No Limit. It doesn't issue public weather forecasts, but it tracks weather around the globe. It isn't the national hurricane center, but it studies hurricanes as well as other extreme...
Western Washington University
Active minds changing lives. Right-sized, well balanced, with an extensive range of strong academic programs and some enlightening stats that speak to all of it: Western Washington University (WWU)...
Striking the Balance: A Fiduciary Approach to Risk and Investment Policy
Discover how to effectively balance risk and return as a fiduciary in your investment portfolios.
Evolving Asset Allocation and Policy Portfolios
In this Forum 2018 general session, Commonfund experts share research findings and techniques we employ to help investors understand not just the characteristics of their portfolio in isolation but...
Viewpoint: Being Objective
Every year, the NACUBO-Commonfund Study of Endowments® (NCSE) reports new data—on investment returns, asset allocation, risk management, donations and gifts, and much more. But some data points are...
Nonprofit Board Governance Best Practices
Since our founding in 1971, a core element of the Commonfund mission has been to provide insights on a broad range of governance, policy and investment challenges. An engaged governing board is...
What’s the Difference? Time-Weighted Return vs. Internal Rate of Return
Investors often ask about the difference between time-weighted return (“TWR”) and internal rate of return (“IRR”). In general, TWR is used by the investment industry to measure the performance of...
Northampton Community College Foundation
The dictionary defines a foundation as “an underlying base or support.” Of course, there’s another type of foundation, defined as “funds given for the support of an institution.” Northampton...
Hedge Fund Land: An Expensive Amusement Park?
In a series of articles, we have addressed two recent investment “fatigues” experienced by institutional investors: Active vs. Passive; and Global (ACWI) vs. US benchmarks. In this article, we tackle...
Viewpoint: Responsible Investing for Foundations
Introduction In recent years, growing attention has been paid to the use by endowed institutions of so-called responsible investing practices. The three main practices — environmental, social and...
Making the Case for Investing in Natural Resources
The natural resources sector is often characterized as cyclical, as producers and service providers experience underlying exposure to and commensurate volatility of commodities in the oil and gas,...
Fiscal Year-End and Mid-Year 2025 Market and Investment Review