The Mercer Endowments & Foundations survey comes at an interesting time for Endowments and Foundations. After a sustained period of strong investment returns, many Endowments and Foundations, particularly those with a meaningful allocation to growth assets, find themselves in a healthy financial position.

Strong returns have allowed Endowments and Foundations to recover from the Global Financial Crisis and build healthy reserves, all while maintaining their donation/spending programmes. However ...

These Endowments and Foundations now face a new challenge. They are being told the strong returns will not last. Low interest rates are expected to anchor future returns at lower levels.

This years’ survey, our 6th, covered 28 New Zealand Endowment & Foundation respondents with funds ranging in size from $7 million to $1.9 billion.

Survey respondents this year highlighted a wide range of approaches to common challenges, including:

• Maintaining spending in a low yield environment
• Responding to increased awareness of responsible investment initiatives
• Asset diversification and risk management. 

They also told us what is top of mind for Trustees across the not-for-profit sector.

 Download a summary of the findings and recommendations here.

Want to chat about what else we learned, and what this could mean for your organisation?