Investment Management
Approximately 55% of ECCF's investments are in equities. Our foundation's investment policy states that the total equity exposure for the total investment portfolio should not be less than 50% or more than 75%. The remaining 45% of our funds are currently invested in short and medium term debt, money market instruments, cash and cash equivalents. In addition, regular re-balancing of each of the portfolios to roughly the proportion of equities and bonds determined by the Foundation’s investment policy insures against downside risks.
The following benchmark indexes are used in comparing performance within and among ECCF's Investment managers: S&P 500; Lehman Aggregate Bond Index, in addition to customized blends o f these benchmarks reflective of the proportion of funds diversified.
A copy of ECCF's complete Investment Guidelines is available from ECCF upon request. Contact ECCF.
ECCF has established money management and custodial arrangements with the following investment firms (all are required to be responsive to the Foundation’s investment policy):
Current Investment Managers:
Bank of America manages:
- A diversified portfolio of individual equities, bonds, and mutual funds for donors interested in modest growth
- A separate portfolio of mutual funds for donors interested in liquidity
Beverly National Bank manages:
- A portfolio of mutual funds responsive to ECCF's investment policy
Other Investment Managers
Upon the approval by ECCF, newly donated assets may be invested through an investment manager recommended by the donor. However, just as in the case of the above listed money managers, each investment manager serves at the pleasure of the Trustees of ECCF and the performance of each is monitored to make sure that portfolio assets and returns are competitive with ECCF's other money managers and national performance benchmarks.
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