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Benchmarks for Boards
This paper attempts to serve as a guide for trustees and boards that aspire to excel, with particular emphasis on the board’s fiduciary role.
The Investment Policy Statement - A Commonfund Whitepaper
Successful investing for long-term funds requires a strategic investment policy statement. The plan must be specific, yet it also needs to be flexible. Learn More
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...
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,...
Working capital: challenge and opportunity
On campus, the thinking about operating asset management is changing with the times. In the wake of the 2008 financial crisis and Great Recession, liquidity was the primary concern on university...
Evolving Challenges in Nonprofit Governance
Commonfund recently convened an expert panel moderated by Myra Drucker (standing, left), Chair of the Board, TrustedPeer Inc. and former chair of the Commonfund Board of Trustees. The roundtable...
ESG: Principles for Responsible Investment
Environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors are a topic for active discussion in board rooms. Here’s an update on Commonfund’s thoughts and actions and how ESG may relate to you. In general,...
Private Equity: Perception and Reality
For a variety of reasons, some investors believe that private equity may have lost its edge as a key allocation for their portfolios. This perception may overlook reality. A closer examination...
Risk: The Fuel that Generates Portfolio Returns
Risk management: the process of harnessing risk in pursuit of better investment returns In a broad sense, how should nonprofit institutional investors think about investment risk and risk management?...
Viewpoint: A Different Kind of Climate Change
How have cultural, religious and social service institutions’ investment portfolios changed in response to the financial and market environment that has prevailed over the last several years? While...
How Liquid are Private Capital Investments?
In the wake of the Global Financial Crisis, institutional investors were rightfully concerned about the liquidity profiles of their long term portfolios. Although markets have recovered substantially...
10-Point Fiduciary Checklist: Get Governance Right
Follow this checklist and you'll be on your way… For nonprofit organizations of all kinds, the regulatory and legislative landscape continues to become more rigorous—which should not come as a...
‘What, me? Illiquid?’
Although it has been five years since the collapse of Lehman Brothers—an event that transformed a bad recession into a global financial crisis—the scars of that traumatic episode remain etched in the...
ESG and Your Institution: Doing Well by Doing Good
Investing according to environmental, social and governance principles is maturing into a distinct discipline. Robust research results dispute the conventional wisdom about performance trade-offs. If...