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Investment Portfolios
We are known for our financial strength and sound investment strategies, overseen by our experienced Investment Committee and world-class investment managers.
Meet Your Grantmaking Goals
We offer a variety of well-managed investment pools, because we understand that no single investment option can meet every donor’s needs.
Endowed Funds
Assets in endowed funds are invested to provide an annual amount that will be spent for charitable purposes in perpetuity. The endowed investment pool is an actively managed perpetual fund; the investment management fee for the endowed pool is 1%.
Goals: To earn a sufficient long term return with little to no volatility as possible to preserve the purchasing power of the assets, after annual grants of 4% and annual support fees and cost of living increases.
Spending Policy: Endowed fundholders may choose to make an annual distribution of 4% of the fund’s balance, averaged over the previous 12 quarters. Fundholders may also choose to reinvest that amount into the corpus for continued growth.
Investment Philosophy: The Foundation has adopted a Strategic Asset Allocation Strategy that best balances the opportunity for achieving investment return objectives with an acceptable volatility level. There is significant evidence that long-term investors do not benefit from attempting to earn returns through short-term asset class forecasts or market timing. While each asset class and strategy is carefully selected, the focus of the investment is always on the overall portfolio.
Endowed Asset Allocations: The Portfolio is amply diversified across various asset classes and strategies, and results of each asset manager are reviewed quarterly by the Investment Committee. Areas of investment include:
US Large/Mid Cap Equity (16%)
US Small Cap Equity (6%)
International Equity (15%)
Emerging Markets (7%)
Select Strategies (18%)
Core Fixed Income (12%)
Hedged Funds (9%)
Natural Resources (2%)
Real Estate (3%)
Private Equity (11%)
Cash and Equivalents (1%)
Results
Results are reported net of investment management fees for the period ending March 31, 2024. The endowed investment pool is an actively managed perpetual fund.
| 1 Year | 3 Years | 5 Years | 7 Years | 10 Years | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Foundation Endowment Portfolio | 14.7% | 3.2% | 7.7% | 7.6% | 6.5% |
| Endowment Benchmark | 14.2% | 5.1% | 8.5% | 8.0% | 6.8% |
Expendable Funds
Donors who choose to spend down their funds rather than permanently endow the assets have the option of selecting an investment pool that closely matches their timing for making grants. Donors can opt to change pools once per year. The estimated investment management fees for expendable pools are noted below.
Short Term Pool: Provides a high level of liquidity for fundholders with short term grant making strategies (1-3 years). The investment management fee for this pool is 0.15%.
Short Term Fixed (50%)
Money Market (50%)
Intermediate Term Pool: Balances mild liquidity needs with a reasonable level of expected appreciation over full market cycles (3-5 years). The investment management fee for this pool is 0.17%.
US Large Cap (15%)
US Small Cap (4%)
International Equity (13%)
Emerging Markets (5%)
US AGG Bonds (23%)
Short Term Fixed (40%)
Long Term Pool: Mirrors the Endowment investment strategy as closely as possible with the intention of maintaining assets within the pool for a longer time frame (over 5 years). The investment management fee for this pool is 0.18%.
US Large Cap (30%)
US Small Cap (6%)
International Equity (26%)
Emerging Markets (8%)
US AGG Bonds (30%)
Capital Preservation Pool: This pool is designed for fundholders with a granting horizon of less than one year and/or a low tolerance of risk. This pool invests in cash and cash-equivalents, such as FDIC-insured money market accounts, certificates of deposit, treasury securities, and other short duration and low-risk investments. The investment management fee for this pool is 0.10%.
Results
Results are reported net of investment management fees for the period ending March 31, 2024. Pool selection is based on the donor’s grant horizon.
| 1 Year | 3 Years | 5 Years | 7 Years | 10 Years | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Short Term Pool | 4.3% | 1.1% | 1.6% | 1.5% | 1.4% |
| Intermediate Term Pool | 9.3% | 1.6% | 4.1% | 4.2% | 3.7% |
| Long Term Pool | 15.6% | 3.4% | 7.5% | 7.2% | 6.4% |
| Capital Preservation Pool | 4.7% | 2.3% | 1.8% | 1.4% | 1.1% |
Investment management fees reflect the fees charged by investment managers and Crewcial Partners LLC.
They are separate from the Foundation’s Support Fee.
Common Questions
Please contact us if we can answer any questions for you.
Our investments are pooled and our donors have the option to choose from various offerings. Each of these pools has a distinct expected return and risk level. Over time, higher risk pools are expected to generate higher returns; they are also subject to larger short to intermediate term declines. Which pool is best for each donor is the one that is most closely aligned with that donor’s philanthropic time horizon.
Our investment pools are oriented towards consistency as it relates to strategy and risk assumption. While it can feel uncomfortable at times, our approach relies on the idea that bear markets end as suddenly and unexpectedly as they arrive. Furthermore, extremely pessimistic pricing can selectively take hold during such times and provide outsized opportunities that combine unusually large prospective gains and limited durable downside. Our view is that long-term investment success depends, in part, on capturing these opportunities. Therefore, our investment strategy during bear markets differs little from our investment strategy during other times.
Investment Committee
With their decades of expertise, the Sacramento Region Community Foundation Investment Committee drives asset management and investment growth to meet fund objectives. The Investment Committee is committed to:
Protecting the corpus of the Foundation’s philanthropic assets
Preserving the spending power of the income from the fund
Maintaining a diversified portfolio of assets to meet investment objectives
Complying with applicable law
Committee Members
Investment Expertise
Crewcial Partners LLC of New York was retained by the Investment Committee in 2007 to monitor the investment performance of individual managers and to advise the Committee on investment strategy, asset allocation and manager selection. The firm’s focus is on advising nonprofit organizations. Crewcial currently advises 146 clients, 34 of which are community foundations, with assets under management of $39 billion.
Regional community foundation clients include Silicon Valley Community Foundation, Marin Community Foundation, and The San Francisco Foundation.
INVESTMENT UPDATE: 2023 returns
First Quarter 2024
From our investment consultant, Crewcial Partners LLC
The first quarter of 2024 provided yet another period of strong, seemingly risk-free gains, with the S&P 500 rising 10.6% for the quarter alongside the MSCI ACWI Index’s advance of 8.2%. Once again, US large-capitalization growth stocks led the way, further cementing the impression that this group can be relied upon to produce market-leading returns and provide a strong hedge against difficult economic and geopolitical conditions.
Glad to report the S&P 500’s worst intra-quarter decline was a mere 1.7%; if this figure were to hold, it would be the smallest decline in over 80 years and a rare situation in which equities experienced an intra-year decline less than that of US treasuries.
The Sacramento Region Community Foundation’s Endowment portfolio increased 4.5% on the quarter, underperforming the target benchmark by 30 basis points, and increased 14.7% over the past 12 months, outperforming the target benchmark by 50 basis points.
The Foundation manages expendable pools structured to match donors’ grant-making horizon. For those donors intending to spend down their fund in a very short amount of time, a Short-Term pool assumes little risk. For donors looking to grant assets over a 3 to 7-year period, the Intermediate Pool assumes some risk in an effort to create gains, but not to the level of a longer-term portfolio. The Long-Term pool supports donors with a very long grant-making horizon who did not choose to endow their assets.
For more information, please contact Chelsea Fahr, Senior Director of Philanthropy, at chelsea@sacregcf.org or (916) 921-7723.
Contact Us
We invite questions about our investment strategies and results, your fund statement, and ways we can help you achieve your philanthropic goals.
