Investing for Non-Profits: Essential Questions for Board and Investment Committee Members

The basis for successfully investing non-profit reserves lies in addressing 10 key questions faced by all board and investment committee members. At Koda, our experience – as trustees, directors, investment committee members and advisers to charitable and non-profit investors – leads us to believe that every non-profit board and investment committee can make more of their organisation’s ‘social capital’ by paying attention to these essential questions. These are not just questions to be asked at a group level. As the title suggests, they are questions to be asked by every board and committee member who acts in a fiduciary capacity. If there is one person in particular who should read this paper it is perhaps the person who believes someone else on their board or committee is better-qualified or in some way more responsible than they are when it comes to investment decisions. For that person, the questions represent an enormous opportunity to increase their organisational contribution whilst simultaneously reducing the risks to which they are exposed.