2016 Endowments and Finance Summit - Programming
Programming
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2016
Pre-Summit Sessions — 1:00 P.M. - 5:00 P.M.
Managing AND Growing Assets: Special Considerations for Community Foundations
Room - Rockefeller Hub North
The cost of this event is $99 and separate registration is required. Space is limited. Register now.
Before the 2016 Endowments and Finance Summit officially begins, join your community foundation colleagues for a deeper look at the tools and insights identified to help community foundations improve operational excellence and gain a competitive advantage in the philanthropic advisory marketplace. This pre-summit session will provide important updates regarding community foundation financial management – including FASB rules, regulations, and financial policies – and explore best practices for community foundation endowment growth and management. We'll discuss donor engagement, competition in the philanthropic space, and use of technology.
There will also be several discussions led by your colleagues and the Council's legal team. These will focus on the following topics developed by a working group of dedicated leaders from community foundations.
- Building and Maintaining a Competitive Edge – With all the changes in giving patterns, donor interests, and online technology, how can we maintain competitiveness?
- Compliance Is Key – An Update on Rules Governing Community Foundations – Discuss how your financial policies and procedures should be adapting to today’s environment, and ensure you are aware of the latest rules governing community foundations.
- Financing Community Leadership and the Future of Endowments – Explore the future of endowments in an environment where donors seek increasing flexibility and the community is looking to you for greater leadership. Listen to policy experts explain the threat to endowed philanthropy and learn what you can do about it.
Moderator: Brad Ward, Director, Community Philanthropy, Council on Foundations
Speakers: Steve Cobb, Vice President and CFO, California Community Foundation; Lara Kalwinski, Senior Counsel, Compliance & Policy and Executive Director, National Standards; Lee Klumpp, National Assurance-Director, BDO; Scott Marquardt, Vice President, Southwest Initiative Foundation; Juan Martinez, Vice President, Chief Financial Officer & Treasurer, John S. and James L. Knight Foundation; Sue Santa, Senior Vice President for Public Policy & Legal Affairs, Council on Foundations
Impact Investing: Beyond the Basics
Room - Rockefeller Hub South
The cost of this event is $99 and separate registration is required. Space is limited. Register now.
Part 1 – Working with Finance Committees on Impact Investing
The idea of investing for impact can be foreign to boards and trustees. This session will discuss how to raise the topic with your finance committee and how to respond to questions they might have.
Part 2 – Working with For-Profit Partners for Impact
Working with for-profit partners to develop impact investments can seem daunting or foreign. However, it can form the basis of truly powerful programs and investments. Hear from foundations who have used a variety of investment vehicles, and learn from legal experts who will discuss their pitfalls and opportunities.
Part 3 – Real Property for Real Impact
A balance of asset classes is vital to any portfolio – but when your focus is impact, how do real assets fit in? From housing stock to natural resources, real assets can be a valuable addition to an impact portfolio. Learn how to identify and evaluate opportunities from a range of different practitioners.
Moderator: John Cochrane, Associate Director, Social Innovation, Council on Foundations
Speakers: Kimberly M. Eney, Associate, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP; Melissa Weigel, Manager Investment Partnerships, the Nature Conservancy, Christie June Zarkovich, CFA, Consultant, Cambridge Associates; Lisa Richter, Managing Partner, Avivar Associates; Scott Marquardt, Vice President, Southwest Initiative Foundation
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2016
Opening Plenary — 9:00 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.
Charting a Course for Growth in the Global Economy
Room - Empire Forum
Most foundations are operating in global markets and often face hard choices about how to invest their resources. With the world facing continued unrest and concerns about another potential recession, foundations are challenged to think strategically about their investments. Some of the most pressing questions include:
- Will the Federal Reserve implement additional interest rate hikes?
- What resources and metrics can foundations use to analyze the current global economic picture?
- What impact will the November election have on the U.S. economy and how long will it take for the new administration to make bold moves?
Moderator: Juan Martinez, Vice President, Chief Financial Officer & Treasurer, John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
Speakers: Stephanie Bell Rose, Managing Director and Head, TIAA Institute; Kenneth Jones, II, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, The Annie E. Casey Foundation; Dr. Tim Hopper, Chief Economist, TIAA; Sherry Magill, President, Jessie Ball DuPont Fund; Vikki Spruill, President & CEO, Council on Foundations
Concurrent Sessions — 11:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
What to Expect When Outsourcing Your Chief Investment Officer
Room - Rockefeller Hub North
Faced with a complex investing environment and limited resources, an increasing number of nonprofit organizations are using outsourced chief investment officers (OCIOs) to assist with investment management. Not only can an OCIO free up committees’ time or bring additional resources to the table, but the OCIO can also help the investment portfolio better support the organization’s mission. Join SEI and the Miami Foundation to learn about implementing an OCIO and maintaining an effective, long-term relationship. In this session, learn about the variety of investment providers and models available to nonprofits; what efficient research and RFP processes look like; the investment committee’s role when working with an OCIO; return and risk benefits an OCIO might provide for managing endowment assets; working together to create a custom strategy that integrates spending policy, liquidity, hurdle rates; and, measuring performance and conducting ongoing oversight.
Moderator: Mary Jane Bobyock, CFA, Director, Nonprofit Advisory Team, SEI Institutional Group
Speaker: Javier Soto, President and CEO, The Miami Foundation
With thanks to session sponsor SEI Institutional Group.
Diverse Managers as Critical Actors in Foundation Financial Management Excellence
Room - Empire Forum
With nearly $800B held in endowments by approximately 87,000 foundations, philanthropy remains a significant economic engine in American society. Financial advisors are helping most foundations to invest their resources effectively, earning billions in fees annually; yet less than one half of 1% of those fees are being earned by minority- and women-owned firms. Come to this session to learn how your foundation ‘stacks up’ with your peers and how to demonstrate your foundation’s commitment to equity across all aspects of operations—including endowment management. ABFE, in partnership with Lenox Park and commissioned by the Prudential Foundation, will share findings from a year-long study of how U.S. foundations are engaging diverse asset managers.
Moderator: Jason Lamin, Founder and Managing Partner, Lenox Park Solutions
Speakers: Tony Berkley, Vice President, Strategy and Impact, Prudential Financial, Inc.; Melvin Lindsey, Trustee, California Community Foundation
With thanks to session sponsor Prudential.
The Future of Endowed Philanthropy: Strategies for these Challenging Times
Room - Rockefeller Hub South
American philanthropy is a cornerstone of our society, harnessing investment for the common good as a catalyst for social change, investment in our present and future, and a counter to the public and corporate sectors. Whether philanthropic dollars are positioned as risk taking or stalwart resources for a community, they are critically important investments in our civil society. Against this backdrop, scrutiny over philanthropic endowments is mounting. Why aren't more dollars being spent now? How are resources invested? Who is benefiting? What's foregone?
Join us for a discussion, grounded in the unique history of American philanthropy that will explore the factors fueling skepticism about endowments and how we reframe the narrative to counter these challenges.
Moderator: Chris Gates, Senior Advisor, Council on Foundations
Speakers: Gloria Johnson-Cusack, Chairman of the Board, Firelight Foundation; Sue Santa, Senior Vice President for Public Policy & Legal Affairs, Council on Foundations; Dr. David Hammack, Hiram C. Hayden Professor of History, Case Western University
Luncheon Plenary — 12:45 p.m. - 2:15 p.m.
Leadership Perspectives on Foundation Management Excellence
Room - Empire Forum
Foundation leaders are under significant pressure to make grants to meet growing needs, but the reality is that mostly flat investment returns have left most with fewer assets. Too many foundation financial management leaders are forced to make some very tough decisions and often wonder if they are "getting it right." Come to this session to hear how some of your peers are dealing with these and other endowment and finance challenges.
Moderator: Alberto Ibargüen, President, CEO and Trustee, Johnson S. and James L. Knight Foundation
Speakers: Bert Feuss, Senior Vice President, Investments, Silicon Valley Community Foundation; Jane B. O'Connell, President, The Altman Foundation; Maria Woodruff-Wright, Vice President of Operations & CFO, The Skillman Foundation
Learning Labs — 2:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.
Demystifying Sustainable Investing: Aligning Your Organizational Mission with Your Investment Policy
Room - Rockefeller Hub North
Sustainable investing means many different things to different organizations. Some seek performance driven by environmental research, others want to invest in alignment with their beliefs, and still others seek to make an impact on communities and society as a whole. Through the use of case studies, the panel will present a broad overview of the sustainable investing space today, concrete investment opportunities that provide performance and mission alignment, ways to help facilitate the discussion with key stakeholders, and how to incorporate mission and vision into your foundation's investment policy.
Moderator: Bridgid Peterson, Endowments and Foundations Advisor, Brown Advisory
Speakers: Allan House, Portfolio Manager, Brown Advisory
With thanks to Learning Lab sponsor Brown Advisory.
Managing Your Manager: Establishing a Strong Partnership to Ensure Your Needs are Met
Room - Rockefeller Hub South
The relationship with an OCIO/investment manager is crucial to the success and longevity of your organization. As private foundations continue the trend of managing their assets more like an endowment, it is important that their needs, goals, and objectives are met through their partnership with their OCIO/investment manager. Beyond holding quarterly meetings, today’s OCIOs and investment managers need to be sophisticated, responsive, up-to-date on industry, legal, and regulatory best practices, bring new and innovative investment ideas to clients, and have the infrastructure to support increasingly unique and complex relationships. Through in-depth discussion, case studies, and small-group roundtable conversations come explore how to ensure that the relationship with your OCIO/investment manager meets your specific needs.
Speaker: John Church, Senior Portfolio Manager-Endowments and Foundations, Glenmede
With thanks to Learning Lab sponsor Glenmede.
Concurrent Sessions — 4:00 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.
When Is Economic Development a Charitable Activity?
Room Rockefeller Hub North
Despite the perceived community benefits, economic development does not always qualify as a charitable activity. Listen to attorneys from the Council on Foundations use established IRS decisions and their own extensive experience to help community foundations determine when an activity is sufficiently “charitable” to merit support.
Moderator: Suzanne Friday, Senior Counsel and Vice President of Legal Affairs, Council on Foundations
Speaker: Lara Kalwinski, Senior Counsel, Compliance & Policy and Executive Director, National Standards
Asset Allocation Strategies that Work!
Room - Empire Forurm
Asset allocation is arguably the most meaningful driver of long-term returns for institutional portfolios. This panel will explore how an institution's unique risk/return desires, spending requirements, and other key features must be understood before striking the optimal asset allocation. In addition, we will review how each asset class contributes to or mitigates risks: does a typical policy portfolio mix of 60% equities, 30% bonds, and 10% real assets reflect an efficient balance between short-term and long-term risks. Lastly, we will review what the investment committee and/or board should consider in fulfilling their roles in an institution's asset allocation.
Moderator: Lindy Sherwood, President, Senior Managing Director, and Chair, Kaspick & Company Board of Managers
Speakers: Helen Ouellette, Consultant, Registry for College and University Presidents; Kevin Nee, Chief Executive Officer, Covariance Capital Management;
Clearly Articulating Your Approach to Risk Management
Room - Rockefeller Hub South
Risk is multi-faceted and each organization experiences and approaches risk quite differently. In this session, you'll hear from a small private foundation and a mid-sized community foundation about how they have approached the topic of risk management within their organizations. We will discuss three types of risk - fiduciary risk, investment risk, and enterprise risk. Each of our speakers will share their experience identifying and managing risk in these three areas, and you'll leave this session with an overview of the approach that has worked for each of them. Throughout the session, we'll do a few workshop activities to help you think more critically about your risk management program, and we'll share an enterprise risk management framework that you can utilize when you return home to your organization.
Moderator: Angela Santo-Walter, Director, Non-Profits and Healthcare Systems, Russell Investments
Speakers: Amy Heydlauff, CEO, 5 Healthy Cities; Karla Jones-Weber, Chief Financial & Admisnistrative Officer Community Foundation of Greater Des Moines; Kendra Kaake, Senior Investment Strategist, Russell Investments
With thanks to session sponsor Russell Investments.
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2016
Breakfast Roundtable Sessions - 8:00 a.m. - 8:45 a.m.
Deciding How to Decide. Making Investment Decisions Is All About Decisions
Room - Empire Forum
During this session, learn how to make good decisions about investment content, how to set yourself up for success in advance by assessing your outcome, and how to decide when you shouldn’t be making a decision in the first place.
Roundtable Discussion Leader: Jason Taylor, Senior Consultant, Verus
Investing in Equality: Integrating LGBT Issues into Total Portfolio Activation
Room - Empire Forum
Rapid gains over the last decade in areas such as marriage equality reflect a generational change in public attitudes toward LGBT issues. As impact investors begin to think holistically about their investment portfolios, many are beginning to ask how to invest in support of LGBT issues across the diverse array of asset classes commonly found in their portfolios. Total Portfolio Activation identifies four inter-related areas of investment activity for pursuing impact opportunities: investment selection, active ownership and engagement, networks, and policy. Join Matt, CEO of Trillium Asset Management, a leading firm in sustainable and responsible investing (SRI), that has focused on creating change on LGBT issues for 21 years (release of white paper beginning of September).
Roundtable Discussion Leader: Matt Patsky, CEO, Trillium Asset Management
Emerging Markets Impact Investing
Room - Empire Forum
Participants in this roundtable can expect to leave with compelling information to help them: 1) understand some of the compelling reasons for Impact Investing in selected Emerging Markets; 2) review the growing evidence (quantitative and qualitative) of achieving both attractive financial returns and social/environmental benefits; 3) debate the relative risks and challenges; and, 4) explore the practical realities of implementing an Impact Investing Program in Emerging Markets. The discussion will be interactive and participants will be invited to share details about their current/planned Impact Investing Programs - in Emerging Markets and/or Developed Markets. If participants do not currently have any Impact Investing Programs in Emerging Markets, they will be invited to explain their concerns. Resources regarding Impact Investing in Emerging Markets can be found on the EMPEA website at http://empea.org/resources/third-party-resources/impact-investing-resources/
Roundtable Discussion Leader: Patricia Dinneen, Senior Advisor EMPEA and Chair of Impact Investing Council
Investing for Racial Justice
Room - Empire Forum
We can’t ignore how mass incarceration affects – and undermines – the financial health of our institutions by shutting people out of real economic opportunity and driving income inequality. In addition, many companies benefit from cheap prison labor. And, private prison companies and public companies that operate within the prison system lure investors with promises of “growth” and profit that has been built on the institutional racism inherent in the correctional system. People and institutions committed to social justice are uniquely poised to address this social and economic issue both in their work and in their investments through divestment, reinvestment and shareholder advocacy. This roundtable will help foundations align their investments with racial, social, and economic justice.
Roundtable Discussion Leader: Sonia Kowal, President, Zevin Asset Management, LLC
The Multi-Asset Class Conundrum: Should Reporting Across All your Assets Classes Really Be This Hard?
Room - Empire Forum
Remember when “multi-asset class” meant equities...and fixed income? How times have changed. Multi-asset class investing for foundations and endowments now means private capital, real estate, oil & gas, commodities, and more. The challenge for CIOs and COOs is how to aggregate this tremendously diverse array of assets and create meaningful analysis. How do you handle daily traded securities alongside funds with monthly or even quarterly marks? How you do understand your exposures when many of your funds offer little to no transparency? Join Solovis for a discussion of how CIOs and COOs can aggregate information across asset classes and leverage technology to get real-time reports and performance tracking.
Roundtable Discussion Leader: Jeff Foley, Executive Vice President, Business Development, Solovis, Inc.
Discretion, Non-Discretion, No Direction? Too Many Investment Consulting Terms!
Room - Empire Forum
Investment professionals often confuse simple concepts with confusing double-speak and industry jargon. Is your consultant “independent” but they are offering their own products? This Breakfast Roundtable is intended for foundation and endowment leaders who would like to discuss the various ways that investment professionals work with their clients.
Roundtable Discussion Leader: Will Thorpe, Director of Business Development, Mason Investment Advisory Services
Concurrent Sessions — 8:45 a.m. - 10:15 a.m.
Avoiding 990 Filing Pitfalls - One Line at a Time!
Room - Empire Forum
Filing the Form 990-PF presents quite a challenge for the average foundation manager. Few have the time nor the accounting background to make sense of the IRS instructions. Even if a foundation hires an accountant to complete the return, a foundation officer or trustee must sign the form, attesting under penalty of perjury that he or she has examined the form and that it is true, correct, and complete.
How do you know whether a Form 990-PF is true, correct, and complete? Can you simply assume an accountant will get it right? Unfortunately, the answer is no. If your accountant is less than intimately familiar with the form, or if your foundation does not share all relevant information, he or she can get it wrong. In fact, regulators estimate that at least 25% of all 990-PFs have errors. Although the errors in 990-PFs are staggering, there is hope. Foundation personnel can easily avoid a number of common errors if they know what to look for.
Moderator: Nicholas Schiavo, CPA, MBA, Director of Investment Accounting, The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust
Speaker: Thomas F. Blaney, CPA, CFE, Partner, Director of Foundation Services, PKF O'Connor Davies, LLP
It Starts With Us: Increasing Diversity in Impact Investing
Room - Rockefeller Hub South
By thinking more intentionally about broadening our networks and the field regarding diversity, equity, and inclusion, we open up an array of opportunities for leveraging endowments for both returns and social impact. Using research taking place at ABFE surrounding the amount of diversity in the impact investing community, as well as the resources collected about the diversity of fund managers generally, this interactive session will discuss how we can approach investment strategy at multiple levels and in a variety of ways move the field forward to align institutional values of diversity, equity, and inclusion with institutional practice in endowment management.
Moderator: Erika Davies, Vice President, External Affairs, ABFE
Speakers: Kesha Cash, Founder and General Partner, Impact America Fund; Susan Hammel, Executive in Residence, Minnesota Council on Foundation; David Sharp, Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer, Urban Advisors
Hedge Funds are Dead: Long Live Hedge Funds!
Room - Rockefeller Hub North
Given general underperformance of hedge funds over the past six years (versus equity markets) and the highly public announcement of CalPERS eliminating their allocation, presenters in this session will reexamine the value proposition of hedge funds and discuss whether or not they deserve a meaningful allocation in portfolios going forward.
Speakers: Lauren Jacobson, Director, Portfolio Manager, The Rockefeller Foundation; Greg Dowling, CIO, Fund Evaluation Group, LLC, Mark Carhart, CIO and Founding Partner, Kepos Capital
With thanks to session sponsor Fund Evaluation Group, LLC.
Concurrent Sessions — 10:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Key Trends in Impact Investing: What You Need to Know
Room - Rockefeller Hub North
Mission-aligned investing, impact investing, ESG, SRI – the array of terms can be dizzying. This session will present the latest research from the Council on Foundations, review some of the emerging products and tools you may come across, and discuss ways that foundations are beginning to evaluate investments.
Speakers: Matt Onek, CEO, Mission Investors Exchange; Timothy J. Coffin, Senior Vice President, Breckinridge Capital Advisors; Rehana Nathoo, Vice President of Social Innovation, Case Foundation; Dana Bezerra, Vice President, Heron Foundation; Shuaib Siddiqui, Director, Mission Related Investing, Surdna Foundation
Making Investment Decisions in Turbulent Times
Room - Rockefeller Hub South
How can foundations make informed investment decisions that allow them to both continue meeting their charitable missions in the long term, and weather the high-volatility, low-return environment that many analysts predict will be the norm over the next few years? This session will highlight findings from the FY2015 Council on Foundations-Commonfund Study of Foundations (CCSF), which provides useful benchmarks for returns, objectives, and asset allocations. The session will also delve into the ways foundations can ensure that they have a well thought out investment and spending policy that reflects their risk tolerances and goals and provides a flexible and rigorous framework for guiding their decision-making.
Moderator: William Jarvis, Executive Director, Commonfund Institute
Speaker: Kenneth Jones, II, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, The Annie E. Casey Foundation
Closing Plenary — 12:00 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.
Purpose, Power, and Potential of Endowed Philanthropy
Room - Empire Forum
What is the future of philanthropy? As we prepare for a change in our national leadership, we also prepare for shifts in policies and priorities. Critical issues face our nation. Across our country, communities continue to struggle. Philanthropy’s role as a leader, a partner, a catalyst and a risk-taker continues to be an important part of our national story. Our nation’s increased needs will rely on action from other sources of capital, including private enterprise, foundations, individual philanthropists, and nonprofits. The complexity of today’s challenges requires new thinking about how to mobilize capital effectively for social purposes. Emerging philanthropists are adopting innovative ways of giving that complement, and, in some instances, replace existing philanthropic vehicles.
This blockbuster closing plenary features some of the world’s leading thinkers on philanthropy and social change. They will discuss the future of philanthropy, with a special focus on how philanthropy may remain an effective catalyst for positive change. They will additionally talk about the ways that public attitudes toward philanthropy may alter the country’s social sector more broadly.
Moderator: Dr. Jason Wingard, Dean and Professor, School of Professional Studies, Columbia University
Speakers: Jean Case, CEO, The Case Foundation and Chairman, The National Geographic Society; Randall Lane, Editor, Forbes Magazine; Vikki Spruill, President & CEO, Council on Foundations