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Endowment & Foundation Investment Survey
61 senior endowment, foundation and charity/nonprofit investors across 16 countries contributed data and insights for this global study.
Putting innovation into practice
Historically, endowments and foundations have been viewed as ‘ahead of the curve’ on a number of themes—such as the use of private equity and other alternative investment strategies. The combination of a long-term investment horizon, relative regulatory freedom and innovation-friendly governance structures continues to be a powerful one.
Today, we continue to see foundation and endowment investors seeking to advance and enhance portfolios with new developments—such as exploring esoteric investment strategies that have not yet reached the institutional mainstream, driving ‘impact investment’ product development and uncovering unfamiliar/emerging managers.
Supporting the needs of foundations and endowments
Endowments and foundations represent a very significant proportion of bfinance’s client base. Acting as an extension of their teams, we offer flexible support in a range of areas. The most popular service for these investors during recent years has been manager research and selection: the bfinance process has helped these clients to research strategies, acquire market knowledge and uncover a broad range of solutions.
Other key services for our endowment and foundation clients include strategic portfolio design / strategic asset allocation, fee reviews, risk analytics, ESG advisory and operational due diligence. The majority of endowment/foundation clients have appointed bfinance to provide targeted support on a project basis (e.g. 8-12 weeks); long-term support is also available.
Latest case studies
CMA and SAA Support
A Middle Eastern endowment engaged bfinance to assist in refining its Shariah-compliant Strategic...
Strategic Investment Review
A UK-based Charity was seeking support for evaluating their current investment approach and...
Strategic review of FX hedging policy
A Northern-European endowment organisation engaged with bfinance to review its strategic approach...
US/Canada Equity, Dividend Focus
This investor sought to switch from passive strategies towards active management, with the primary...
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