Since 1975, The San Diego Foundation and our donors have granted more than $1.1 billion to advance a vibrant quality of life in San Diego.
While most often we talk about the significant impact these programs and local donors have within our communities, behind the scenes the Investment Committee and I as Chief Investment Officer work to maximize the impact of our donors’ social investments.
Our Quarterly Investment Conference Calls provide donors with insights into the state of the market and current Foundation endowment and non-endowment portfolio investment performance.
We encourage you to listen to the latest Q2 2018 call and review the slides shared from our team of experts to learn more about global trends, portfolio performance and market expectations.
Access the presentation slides >
Steve Klosterman, Regional Director with Halbert Hargrove and The San Diego Foundation Board Investment Chair, kicked off the call and spoke about the trends that are driving the market.
As Steve explained on the call, global trends and the long-term market outlook favors The Foundation’s investment strategy, particularly regarding our overweight in emerging markets. Based on key valuation metrics, emerging markets remain an attractive investment relative to how cheap they are and the growth prospects in these respective countries.
Recently, a stronger U.S. dollar has created challenges in emerging markets, negatively impacting returns in the short-term. However, emerging markets still boast the most favorable valuations in the long term and we expect those assets to yield the strongest returns for our donors in the coming years.
The San Diego Foundation Investment Committee takes a long-term, institutional approach to constructing investment portfolios.
As you may remember from investment updates in recent quarters, the Investment Committee has established a value-driven investment model. As a result, strong performance by emerging markets in 2017 helped The Foundation’s portfolio perform above the policy index.
Conversely, as the U.S. dollar appreciated in the first half of 2018, we saw a slight decline in our endowment portfolio for Q2. Similarly, global events in countries such as Italy and Turkey led to underperformance in the non-U.S. stocks section of our portfolio.
As value-driven investors, we take a long-term approach to investing your dollars. While recent global events have caused a slight dip in returns, we don’t see these as systemic risks to the overall investment strategy.
On the call, Steve Klosterman and I discussed in more detail our investment strategies and key drivers of portfolio performance. I encourage you to listen to the recording for further insight and information to help you maximize your charitable investments and grantmaking.
Read more about how we help grow your giving with our investment strategy and performance.
As Chief Investment Officer, Matt oversees and manages the investment strategies and activities of The San Diego Foundation. He works with the Investment Committee of the Board of Governors, senior staff, investment managers, auditors and outside consultants to develop investment strategies that maximize returns and help grant more money to local nonprofit organizations, helping to improve the quality of life in San Diego.
On August 9, 2022, we awarded $838,704 in Opening the Outdoors grants to 24 nonprofit organizations that offer equitable access to outdoor spaces in San Diego County.
“San Diego Foundation is proud to once again support its partners committed to increasing community-driven efforts to enhance accessible outdoor space, encourage youth to learn more through hands-on education and create the next generation of environmental stewards in the San Diego region,” said Christiana DeBenedict, SDF Director of Environment Initiatives.
This year’s grantees will help address these inequities and enhance access to the outdoors throughout San Diego County.
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