Out with the Old, In with the New

“For a long time,” writes Keith Whitaker of The Morton Foundation, Inc., “I paid attention only to our charitable expenditures, assuming that our investment consultant was doing his job. When I did raise concerns about our lagging investment performance, our consultant spent 30 minutes with me drawing up and ‘Investment Policy Statement.’ I didn’t pay much attention to our IPS until I began working in the investment industry. When I did look, I was embarrassed. Frankly, our ‘IPS’ was just an exercise in massaging the client. Our new IPS is not only longer than our old one; it has become the focal point for our approach to stewarding the foundation’s assets. Creating it offered our board an education, not just about investments but also about our mission. There’s still plenty that we don’t know, but our new IPS prompts us to ask the right questions.”