investment & financial

Stewards of the Rappahannock Region’s Philanthropy

The Rappahannock River Region has trusted The Community Foundation for over 20 years with their philanthropic assets. The Foundation manages over $50 million for the region, benefiting dozens of fields of interest and supporting hundreds of nonprofit organizations.

The foundation's objective is to manage the community’s assets in a way that anticipates the long-term giving needs of the community. We seek a total rate of return that supports ongoing grantmaking, while controlling risk along the way.  By controlling risk of the foundation’s assets, we can grow our grantmaking abilities with dividends, interest and capital appreciation, through all economic environments. In accordance with the Uniform Prudent Management of Institutional Funds Act, our role as stewards for the community’s assets has the following goals:

1. Grow the value of endowment assets over the long term.
2. Control risk of the assets through diversification and quantitative measures.
3. Support on going grantmaking through the balance of dividends and income.

Thanks to the generosity of our region’s citizens and our sound investment strategies and oversight, this charitable investment serves as a powerful community asset.

Please call Dr. Jamee Rodgers, CEO, if you would like to request a copy of our annual audit. We are also happy to provide information regarding investment managers, administrative fees and investment or oversight. For The Community Foundation's 990s and Annual Reports, please visit our Publications page.

The Community Foundation's Investment Committee

Guardrails for Our Investments

The Community Foundation has a long-term perspective for supporting the Rappahannock region. While growth of managed funds is priority number one, there are significant controls  in place to avoid risk. All investment managers responsible for foundation assets are required to diversify across multiple disciplines and asset classes. Exposure to traditional assets like stocks, bonds, mutual funds, index funds, treasuries and cash is closely monitored -- no one asset class is considered best. The Community Foundation supports the ongoing needs of the community in the short and long term by controlling asset investment risk. 

Investment Oversight

The Board of Governor’s top responsibility is to manage the on-going endowment with great care and prudence. The Board has adopted an Investment Policy that dictates the management of the assets and has appointed an Investment Committee to carry out oversight of both the policy and the advisors charged with investments.

The Investment Committee meets quarterly to review the performance of the endowment, to ensure risk parameters are being followed by advisors and that overall performance meets the short and long-term needs of the foundation. The Committee consists of multiple board members, as well as members of the community who were selected for their investment and management expertise. The Committee conducts annual reviews of our advisors, where in depth analysis covers a wide scale of risk metrics that allow the committee to benchmark advisors according to the foundation's goals.

Our area’s most generous citizens trust The Community Foundation with their charitable assets because of its prudence in action.