we are financial stewards for maximizing community impact

As careful stewards of our community’s charitable dollars, CFBC follows an investment strategy that is conservative and balanced to meet long-term spending requirements for endowments which will support our community forever.

The Community Foundation has a spending policy to preserve and build the endowed funds entrusted to the Foundation and to maintain grant levels during periods of up and down markets.  The spending rate is determined annually as approved by CFBC’s Board of Directors and as recommended by the Investment Committee, and can fluctuate based on a variety of factors like market conditions, past spending and inflation.

Endowment studies by the Council on Foundations and the Commonfund Institute demonstrate that prudent spending levels allow a fund to grow, while spending more than net returns after inflation reduces the fund’s purchasing power over time. 

Our Investment Committee is comprised of local experts on finance and investment, who advise the CFBC board based on best practices in the field.