Effective stewardship of philanthropic assets is critical to the Adirondack Community Trust's ability to fulfill its mission of building charitable funds to strengthen Adirondack communities. We at ACT know that our success is built on the trust we have developed with our fund donors. Earning market level returns, providing excellent donor services and ensuring flexibility during stressful periods will continue to build on that trust. ACT continues to look for ways to control volatility; we're in this for the long-term to strengthen the Adirondack region.
Investment Program and Strategy
ACT offers donors and nonprofit organizations access to institutional investment strategies and management normally available only to large investors. All funds are pooled for investment purposes and a system of unitization, much like a mutual fund, allocates income and appreciation to each fund. One of the advantages of pooling gifts for investment is that the size of the fund permits greater diversification of investments than would be possible for single funds and provides for a lower investment fee structure.
ACT's investment strategy calls for a portfolio diversified across U.S. and international assets. A diversified portfolio helps to maximize investment returns at acceptable levels of risk. ACT also uses multiple investment managers in certain asset classes to further diversify its holdings.
Investment Performance
The portfolio is managed with the objective of exceeding long-term, inflation-and risk-adjusted returns. Each component of the portfolio is designed to provide a risk-adjusted return that exceeds its relevant benchmark. In any given short-run period some asset classes will underperform these goals, while others will outperform. Over time, the portfolio's total performance will tend to average out these differences. Primary emphasis will be placed on ensuring that the performance of the portfolio as a whole attains its objective of capital preservation, net of spending, fees and inflation, as measured by the Consumer Price Index over a full market cycle.
We produce endowment stewardship reports and fund statements quarterly. Updates are typically available six weeks after the close of the quarter. See link below to learn how assets of ACT were allocated by asset type in the past quarter.
Endowment Stewardship Report- December 31, 2011
Managing Investments
ACT's portfolio is managed by US Trust (www.USTrust.com) which is responsible for investment and manager selection, best strategies and appropriate benchmarks. The ACT Finance Committee works closely to monitor investment performance and ensure that the investment objectives are achieved.
