Investment Program
OCF manages funds for the long-term to maximize the impact of your gift. Since 1973, we’ve stewarded charitable funds through a careful and strategic pooled investment program.
The result for you? High-quality, diversified investment management with reasonable fees and costs.
The result for Oregon communities? More than $2.2 billion in grants and scholarships awarded to thousands of nonprofits and students.
Power of an Endowed Fund
Your fund will continue to grow over time, preserving and enhancing its value for future needs. This chart shows an actual OCF fund that increased in value over 32 years because of OCF’s strong investment program and prudent annual grantmaking.
Our Main Investment Pool provides a stable resource for Oregon that responds to today’s needs while preserving and enhancing the real value of funds for the future.
Go to main pool returnsOur Social Impact Pool was established in 1991 as an investment option for donors who request that their funds' assets be invested with social screens applied. Investments in the Social Impact Pool must meet criteria set forth in OCF's Social Impact Pool Policy.
Go to social pool returnsOther Investments
CHARITABLE TRUSTS AND GIFT ANNUITIES
OCF trusts and annuities are administered through TIAA Kaspick with oversight by OCF. TIAA Kaspick manages one of the largest portfolios of planned gifts in the nation and has a proven track record of excellent trust administration with competitive investment returns. For each trust, Kaspick’s investment team develops a broadly diversified portfolio of assets designed to meet the trust’s specific objectives. For more information, visit kaspick.com.
SHORT-TERM INVESTMENT POOL
The basic investment objective of the short-term investment pool is to maximize returns consistent with the safety of principal, liquidity, and cash flow requirements. The goal of this pool is to maintain the corpus of the funds for short-term grantmaking and liquidity needs. Generally, wholly expendable funds and funds with an expected duration of eight years or less are invested in this pool.
Frequently Asked Questions
OCF’s current payout rate is 4.15% for 2024. The payout rate is set each August with the goal of maximizing annual grant-making to the community while maintaining the purchasing power of the endowment over time. If the projected 10-year return is 9% or higher, the payout recommended will be 5%. If the projected 10- year return is below 9%, and above the expected payout rate the payout recommended will be 4.5%. If the projected 10-year return is lower than the expected payout, the Board may elect to reduce the recommended distribution further, but to no less than 4.0%.
The Foundation selects investment managers with proven records of performance in domestic and international markets, equity management, fixed-income management and/or mixed-asset management. Managers with responsibility for equity management have demonstrated skill managing assets within, but not necessarily including all of, the following styles: core (including index funds), growth, value, small capitalization and non-U.S. equities.
OCF allocates the costs associated with investment management proportionally to the individual funds in its investment pools. These costs include fees paid for professional management, independent investment consulting fees and legal fees associated with the investment program. Fees of individual managers vary depending on the size of the portfolio and the type of assets being managed. Total investment costs fluctuate depending on how assets are allocated among managers and among investment categories.
If a fund is endowed (permanent), a donor can choose to invest it in the Main Investment Pool, the Social Impact Pool, or to allocate it between the two. That decision can be changed. However, donors cannot change the asset allocation mix within a pool or choose individual investment managers within a pool.
A marketable alternative asset is an investment that is not one of the three traditional asset types (stocks, bonds and cash). Alternative investments include hedge funds, managed futures, real estate, commodities and derivatives contracts. OCF invests a small portion of its Main Investment Pool in marketable alternative assets because their returns have a low correlation with those of standard asset classes; in other words, they tend to perform well when other asset classes may be experiencing lower returns.
Administrative Fees
Funds are assessed an annual fee to offset the cost of administration. For more information on investments, fees, returns and policies, view the current fee schedule.
