Foundation Advocate
Data Driven News and Analysis of the Investment Performance of Private Foundations

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Foundations are Probably Short the Dollar

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Betting Against the Dollar An easily and often looked over element of international investing is foreign currency exposure.  If, for example, you wanted to buy local shares in a Swiss company, step one is to buy Swiss Francs and then step two is to buy the shares. Where did you get the money for the Francs? You sold/exchange dollars for Francs. When you want to exit the … [Read more...] about Foundations are Probably Short the Dollar

Why Haven’t Foundations Done Better in this 10 Year Bull Market?

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What are Foundations Betting On? Following the financial crisis, the US stock market has been on a pretty great 10-year run with only a few hiccups.  The S&P 500's annualized return for the decade ending December 31st, 2018 was 13.1%.  How have foundations fared over the same time frame? Not nearly as well, the preliminary 10 year estimate from FoundationMark shows a … [Read more...] about Why Haven’t Foundations Done Better in this 10 Year Bull Market?

US Foundations Assets Hit $1 Trillion for the First Time!

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The Trillion Dollar Milestone Over the past several years, US foundation assets have been steadily climbing. The combination of strong financial markets and substantial gifts over the past five years propelled total assets of US foundations to just over $1 trillion in fiscal 2017, breaking the trillion dollar mark for the first time ever. More importantly, grant making … [Read more...] about US Foundations Assets Hit $1 Trillion for the First Time!

How are Foundations Doing?

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Compared To What? Before answering this seemingly straightforward question about performance, it might be useful to establish a quick framework to place performance into context.  Rather than lead with foundations, we thought a more familiar group, Ivy League endowments, would help illustrate some core concepts. Absolute Performance, Relative Performance, and Peer … [Read more...] about How are Foundations Doing?