Community foundations are increasingly adopting responsible investing strategies and thinking about hiring diverse managers, according to a survey released Thursday by FEG Investment Advisors.
The responses came from 110 U.S. community foundations with a collective $30 billion in assets under advisement participating in the annual survey conducted online and via email in February and March. Foundations ranged in asset size from less than $25 million to more than $1 billion.
Survey topics included asset allocation, spending policy, pandemic response, responsive investing, investment committee composition and donor advised funds.
More than a third, 38%, of respondents want to increase exposure to private investments, while 26% want to decrease exposure to hedge funds and 19% want to reduce exposure to global fixed income.
It was the first survey in five years where no respondent had a spending policy greater than 5%.
This year's survey marked the first time that more than half of survey respondents reported having responsible investing strategies in their portfolios.
The percentage of community foundations that have considered hiring diverse managers rose to 31% from 19% in 2020.
"Though many foundations are still evolving their own definition of diverse managers, we continue to see organizations prioritize diversity not just in ownership and leadership, but also in portfolio managers and managers' own investment in diversity, equity and inclusion," said consultant Quincy Brown, FEG senior vice president and director of client service, in the release.
