Community Foundation of Abilene : About Us : Fiduciary Role
The Community Foundation of Abilene was established in 1986 to administer and grow its endowment and to distribute the earnings to benefit the community.
Led by a group of local volunteers who are financial experts, the Community Foundation wisely manages an investment program that provides prudent stewardship of the funds you contribute. We have engaged Cynthia Henderson, a consultant with Fund Evaluation Group, to work with our staff and the Investment Committee. She provides education, financial reporting, manager selection and due diligence to the Committee to enable them to make the decisions that are in the best interest of the Community Foundation. The Community Foundation, working in concert with our investment consulting firm, manages risk and return on the endowment using a framework that allocates the charitable assets to different types of investment strategies under a long-term asset allocation model.
Ultimately, the measure of the Community Foundation's overall investment performance is whether the long-term return is sufficient to both protect its assets against inflation and to produce a consistent stream of charitable revenue to the communities it serves. As of June, 2008, the Foundation's annualized long-term performance for the past five (5) years has exceeded the absolute benchmark of 8.5% by 90 basis points.
In addition to benchmarking the endowment's performance against market-driven indices, the Community Foundation also compares its performance against its community foundation peers nationally. Over the past seven years, the Foundation has consistently ranked among the top of its peer group.
Our staff mails out semiannual fund statements to keep you up to date on your fund's financials. You also have the ability to view your monthly fund balances and financial information online at Donor Central. To gain access, please contact Marva Kissee (mkissee@abilene.com).
