The Fiduciary Standard: Aligning with the Core Values of Investing for Not-For-Profit Organizations

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“Transparency implies openness, communication, accountability, and trust, and should be a cornerstone of modern society and business.” ~ Cathie Wood, ARK founder, CIO and CEO

 
 
 

With donor contributions increasing year over year, Not-For-Profit Organizations (NFPOs) are increasingly tasked with balancing investment objectives with the donors’ personal interests. Whatever the solution, transparency of how the donors’ gifts are being utilized establishes the foundation of trust. While maximizing returns within the constraint of donors’ preferences can be challenging, technological solutions exist to balance the interests of both parties.

 
 
 

Online platforms such as Gifting Network provide NFPOs a space to illustrate a catalog of charitable opportunities for fund advisors and donors. Such platforms also aim to provide real-time nonprofit reports, gift, and grant reporting for donor advisors. Leveraging these tools, NFPOs can clearly communicate the philanthropic needs of their own organization, while providing the transparency to donors needed to form and fulfill a trusting relationship.

 
 
 

To build a trusting relationship between NFPOs and donors, GreenHill has identified four areas that help assist NFPOs in accomplishing this task.

 
 
 
 
 

Transparency:

 
 
 

GreenHill’s relationships with numerous accounting systems allow for data to be streamlined straight from the source. To ensure accuracy, the data is run through aggregation and reconciliation checks. In case of any discrepancies, personal account managers familiarized with your dataset are available to resolve any issues at a moment’s notice. Coupled with GIPS compliant performance calculations, investment managers and donors alike can be assured that donor investment performance is accurate and in line with industry standards.

 
 
 

Granularity:

 
 
 

With the ability to drill down to five levels of asset classification, GreenHill fits both the most basic and advanced needs of data processing. Whether from high levels of classification such as equity, fixed income and cash, to more specific buckets such as market cap sizes and styles, GreenHill is able to capture performance as general or specific as one prefers.

 
 
 

Investment Performance:

 
 
 

Pairing with the ability to drill down to multiple levels of classification, GreenHill can calculate returns at any level. Leveraging GreenHill’s online reporting portal, ReportQuest, fund advisors will have access to aggregated and accurate financial data. Users can breakdown return calculations to their individual variables. Market values, accruals, flows, income, donor fees, and other variables are all available on ReportQuest at any level of classification. Security level returns are also available, so advisors can view the foundation of their overall return. Tying it all together, over 350 benchmarks can be assigned at any level of classification, giving fund managers the ability to choose the best measure of performance against their investment decisions.

 
 
 
 
 

Reporting Options:

 

 

 

ReportQuest is home to over 300 reporting options. Ranging from the basic executive summary to the detailed donor account activity summary, ReportQuest can generate a report that fits any client-facing or internal need. Reporting time periods are customizable, giving investment managers the ability to view their performance from multiple historical perspectives. Personalization options such as custom logos, report orientation, chart styles, and many more, allow users to create reports that feel like their own.

 
 
 

Combining the four aforementioned areas, GreenHill seeks to provide NFPOs with a solution to bridge the gap between NFPOs and donors. To provide a one-stop-shop solution to the NFPO community, GreenHill’s partnership with GiftingNetwork brings integrated investment performance reporting to participating NFPOs. GreenHill’s personalized investment analysis, reporting and monitoring services coupled with the GiftingNework’s donor advised SaaS platform provide NFPOs tracking and reporting solutions catered to their needs.