Content

Topics covered during Foundation and Endowment Asset Management include:

Spending goals and risk
• What is the link between long-term strategy and sustainable spending?
• What is the role of the Investment Committee?

Portfolio construction
• What essentials of portfolio theory should every endowment apply?
• The lessons from case studies of long-term portfolio management

Capital market expectations
• What does history tell us about capital market returns?
• Economic growth and stock market performance

Factors in returns
• The evidence on size, value and momentum effects around the world
• How to distinguish between alpha and beta

International asset allocation
• What are the salient attributes of each asset class?
• Why should we distinguish strategic, tactical and dynamic strategies?

Investment styles
• Active or passive management: which is right for your fund?
• Is behavioural finance the latest fad or the wave of the future?

Manager selection
• Balanced and specialist structures: their advantages and drawbacks
• Organising the beauty parade and choosing the right manager

Performance measurement
• When should we focus on absolute and when on relative performance?
• Does good performance persist - do some managers have 'hot hands'?

Alternative assets
• The pros and cons of hedge funds, and the controversy about fees
• A briefing on private equity and its suitability for endowments

Current controversies in charitable funds management
• Should all endowments be permanent? Why not switch to a finite life?
• How do foundations' strategies differ internationally, and why?

Plenary discussions
• What are "responsible investment strategies"?
• How have large and small endowments managed change?