The Calgary Foundation's biggest investment is our community investment. Our funds are invested by some of the country’s top financial advisors.

  Financial Statements 2006 - 2007


Here are some of the specifics of our approach:

Strong policy
The Foundation's staff and Investment Committee continually review and evaluate our formal Statement of Investment Policy to ensure it incorporates relevant research and industry knowledge.

A long view
The very long term horizon of an endowment allows us to make decisions based on the long term trends of capital markets, not on their short term variations.

Specialty managers
We seek out and use the services of the "best of breed" in each asset class. Then, we actively oversee these professionals to ensure they adhere to our Statement of Investment Policy in their investment activities. These money managers include:

                                                  Money Managers
Bissett Investment Management    Canadian Equities
TD Asset Management      Fixed Income, International Equities  
Mawer Investment Management      Money Market Investment
Neuberger Berman    US Equities

Diversification

Our portfolio is diversified by asset class, sector, equity issuer, debt issuer, term to maturity, management style, region, and so on. Specifically:

  • the total investment in Canadian fixed income securities shall be 35% of the market value of the Fund.
  • the total investment in equities shall be 65% of the market value of the Fund.
  • the investment in Canadian equities shall be 35% of the market value of the Fund.
  • the investment in U.S. equities shall be 25% of the market value of the Fund.
  • the investment in international (i.e. non- North American) equities shall be 5% of the market value of the Fund.

Benchmarking

We regularly benchmark the performance of the endowment portfolio against indices and peers.

A focus on real rate of return

The purchasing powers of today’s dollars erode over time due to inflation. We therefore measure the performance of The Foundation's portfolio in terms of inflation-adjusted rates of return.

 

Experience and expertise

Our Investment Committee members are accomplished in their field, and apply their collective experience and expertise to the careful management of the Foundation's endowment