Winter 2021
Fourth Quarter 2020 Performance Round-Up
Each quarter we pull together the published results of the leading measures of foundation performance, the FoundationMark GIV Index, the Northern Trust Foundation and Endowment Universe, and the foundation subgroup of the BNY Mellon U.S. Master Trust Universe. The results are shown in the table and graph below. Periods ended December 31, 2020 … [Read more...] about Fourth Quarter 2020 Performance Round-Up
Record Giving, Record Asset Levels
Higher Giving, Higher Assets The graph and table below show current estimated foundation assets grew to $1.2 trillion at the end of 2020. The FoundationMark assumptions underlying the asset level are shown at right, including a giving level of $88 billion, up about 7% from 2019. We recognize that giving may have been higher as foundations may have responded to the … [Read more...] about Record Giving, Record Asset Levels
One Small Assumption that Cost Institutions over $100 billion in the Past Decade
Benchmarks play an important role in investment management for many reasons including: 1) they serve as the default position for portfolio allocation, 2) they provide investment managers with a target to shoot for (and hopefully exceed), and 3) they provide the basis for comparison when evaluating performance as well as risk, which often overlooked but an important role in … [Read more...] about One Small Assumption that Cost Institutions over $100 billion in the Past Decade