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Private Equity | Private Equity Insights
Edging Out the Competition – The Sector Specialist Advantage
Unlike the early days of private equity, when generalist private equity firms predominately relied on financial engineering to generate returns, today’s competitive markets require a much deeper...Featured
Responsible Investing | White Papers
Navigating the Changing ESG Landscape: Challenges and Opportunities
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Investment Strategy | Videos
Investing in the Creative Economy - Commonfund Coffee Talk
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Investment Strategy | Articles
Viewpoint | The Yin and Yang of Risk and Return
The conundrum of risk and return is that you can’t have one without the other. The key is finding the right balance for your foundation.
Perspectives | Press Releases
FY23 NACUBO-Commonfund Study Released
U.S. Higher Education Endowments Report 7.7% Return for FY23 While Spending More in Support of Their Missions 50th anniversary NACUBO-Commonfund Study shows participating colleges and universities...
Perspectives | Videos
CIO Roundtable
Commonfund hosted its annual Commonfund Forum, March 10-12th, in Orlando, Florida. The agenda included a range of sessions on relevant topics for institutional investors. This Forum Spotlight...
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Market Commentary | Insights Blog
U.S. Trade Deficit Reaches Record High Amid Global Trade Shifts
As of September 2024, the U.S. trade deficit stands at $84.4 billion, marking the highest level since the onset of the Russia-Ukraine war in 2022. During that period in the conflict, the deficit... Learn More
Investment Strategy | Private Equity Insights
Asset Allocation with Private Equity
Reprinted from Volume 17, Number 1, 2016 of The Journal of Investment Consulting by Mark J.P. Anson Private assets such as private equity and venture capital have long been a thorn in the side of...
Investment Strategy | Private Equity Insights
Emerging Markets: Balancing Risk and Reward
Investors poured $2 trillion into emerging economies between 2009 and 2014. Then prices for a basket of commodities fell—dragging crude oil down to levels not seen in a decade and dashing investors’...
Investment Strategy | Articles
Rethinking Risk and Diversification
Asset allocation is still the foundation on which better risk-adjusted returns are built. But asset allocation has changed, along with all the associated tools for pursuing return and managing risk....
Perspectives | Videos
The One World Schoolhouse: Education Reimagined
Sal Khan is the founder of the Khan Academy, a nonprofit with the mission of providing free, high-quality education to “anyone, anywhere” in the world. A former hedge fund analyst with degrees from...
Perspectives | Articles
Viewpoint: Seven Years On
How long is the long term? A year ago, endowments appeared to many observers to have recovered from the losses suffered in the 2008-09 global financial crisis. Double-digit investment returns had...
Responsible Investing | Articles
Impact Investing: Balancing the Best of Responsibility & Opportunity
Impact investing is showing growth around the world. According to the most recent J.P. Morgan/Global Impact Investing Network Impact Investor Survey, the number of institutional investors engaging in...
Governance And Policy | Articles
Viewpoint: Changing Our Minds
It is often said that we live in a world of change, but it is surprising how slowly that change can occur. Seven years after the onset of the Great Recession, many business school students are still...
Investment Strategy | Articles
Multi-Asset Investing: Form Follows Function
The design axiom captures the purpose of multi-asset investing Interest in multi-asset investing is growing and the inflows confirm it: Institutional assets committed to multi-asset investing are...
Private Equity | Private Equity Insights
Global private equity: what and why
What and Why An article in the previous issue of Insight sought to discern the difference between perception and reality in private equity investing generally, and included a companion article...
Perspectives | Articles
Smart money, crowded trades?
For investors building multi-manager portfolios, a look at an alternative hedge fund beta. Approaches to stock selection vary widely across the hedge fund universe, even among managers practicing the...
Risk Management | Articles
Greenhouse Effect
Investment returns of less well-diversified portfolios have flourished in the accommodative market environment created by central banks. But what will happen when rates rise? In the last five years,...
Top Five Questions of Nonprofit Fiduciaries