2019 FINANCIALS The Boston Foundation has a mandate both to fulfill its role as Greater Boston’s community foundation today—by maximizing the dollars available for making grants—and ensuring that the charitable dollars entrusted to the Foundation are available to continue this work tomorrow and in perpetuity. Robust development efforts and a well-diversified investment strategy enable the Foundation to meet these objectives.
Fund for the 21st Century The Boston Foundation offers three separate investment pools within the Fund for the 21st Century. These three pools allow donors to select the option that best matches the time horizon of their charitable giving plans. Donors may also customize their asset allocation by investing among all three pools. The Balanced Plus Pool asset mix is expected to produce the highest long-term investment return. Accordingly, the Boston Foundation invests its endowment assets in the Balanced Plus Pool.
Financial Oversight The Foundation’s Investment Committee establishes investment policy and monitors the individual investment managers and their performance, and the Board sets each year’s spending rate. The Investment Committee is assisted by an independent investment consulting firm. The Balanced Plus Pool assets include global stocks, investments with flexible capital managers, private equity, venture capital, real estate, and treasury securities. Diversification among multiple asset classes should help to reduce the volatility of the Foundation’s investment returns.
INVESTMENT PERFORMANCE ( June 30, 2019 ) 1 YEAR
3 YEARS
5 YEARS
10 YEARS
15 YEARS
Balanced Plus Pool
5.3%
8.9%
5.4%
8.0%
6.5%
Balanced Pool (established 2/1/11)
5.1%
7.4%
4.0%
n/a
n/a
Short-Term Pool (established 1/1/10)
2.3%
1.4%
0.9%
n/a
n/a
FTSE World Bond Index
5.5%
1.0%
0.8%
2.2%
3.5%
65% MSCI A.C. World/35% FTSE World Bond Index
6.0%
8.0%
4.5%
7.5%
6.0%
MSCI All Country World Stock Index
5.7%
11.6%
6.2%
10.1%
7.0%
S & P 500 Stock Index
10.4%
14.2%
10.7%
14.7%
8.8%
Fund for 21st Century Investment Options:
Benchmarks:
56