The Practical Guide to Managing Nonprofit Assets

"The authors have provided an interesting and helpful resource to understand and manage the nonprofit organization's investments. I believe that this book should be in the library of all nonprofit practitioners that are concerned about prudent stewardship."
-Jim Croft, PhD, Vice President, Finance and Administration The Field Museum (Chicago, Illinois)

"This book is a straightforward, well-written guide to the strategies and administration of investment assets of nonprofit institutions. It relies on the principles of modern portfolio theory in emphasizing asset diversification, performance measurement, and careful manager selection. It debunks much of what passes for 'investment advice' in the popular media. To their credit, the authors describe the challenges, factors, and actors in the investment industry, from the perspective of the individuals and committees charged by nonprofit institutions swith investment oversight responsibility."
-John E. Allerson, Senior Vice President, Finance and Operations and Chief Financial Officer, Roosevelt University (Chicago, Illinois)

"I would consider this book 'Investments 101' for anyone who deals with overseeing investments of a company, whether it is a profit or nonprofit. Yet, at the same time, it would help all investors, small or large, in dealing with their own individual portfolios. DiMeo, Schneider, Benoit, et al. have organized the book in such a way that each chapter deals with the very essence of how to structure an investment portfolio and how to look at the complex environment in an easy way."
-Kevin Higdon, Vice President of Finance Elkhart General Hospital (Elkhart, Indiana)

"From modern portfolio theory to the role of the fiduciary, The Practical Guide to Managing Nonprofit Assets provides trustees of nonprofit funds with a chapter-by-chapter explanation of what they should know to carry out their responsibilities. For the uninitiated, it creates a foundation for understanding investing in a difficult environment. For the experienced, it serves as a checklist of issues to be considered in exercising appropriate investment oversight."
-Thomas H. Hodges, Executive Vice President, Finance, and Treasurer Evanston Northwestern Healthcare (Evanston, Illinois)

Nonprofits have often been behind the curve in their investment practices compared to institutional retirement plans. As a result, fiduciaries of nonprofit funds, their donors, and their advisors have been left without sound advice to move forward with their investment strategies-until now. Created as a practical guide for fiduciaries of nonprofit funds-board members and internal business managers-The Practical Guide to Managing Nonprofit Assets is a much-needed, step-by-step guide to the effective investment management of nonprofit assets.

Written in a user-friendly format, The Practical Guide to Managing Nonprofit Assets takes readers through each phase of the investment process to ultimately create an elegant and simple framework for the prudent oversight of fund assets. Along the way, it provides current academic research and industry best practices, as well as a wealth of real-world case studies.

The Practical Guide to Managing Nonprofit Assets explores:
* Fundraising challenges
* Special issues facing hospitals, colleges, and religious orders
* Spending policies and their impact on the financial health of the organization
* Investment theories, including some of the new insights from behavioral finance
* Fiduciary issues, including the evolving state of various uniform investment acts and the impact of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA)
* The roles and responsibilities of various providers and vendors to the fund-the function of consultants vs. money managers vs. brokers vs. custodians-and what to expect and not expect from each; complete with an included framework to help evaluate and select consultants, brokers, vendors, record keepers, and other resources to the fund

In addition, The Practical Guide to Managing Nonprofit Assets outlines a systematic approach for goal setting, asset allocation, developing a written investment policy statement, selecting managers, portfolio rebalancing, performance evaluation, cost control, and much more. Provided checklists, forms, sample documents, worksheets, and lists of sources for information, software, and services, make this book a resource readers will use to address everyday issues.

Let the useful guidelines in The Practical Guide to Managing Nonprofit Assets bolster the success of all fundraising efforts and the overall success of any nonprofit organization.