2022 AGB and SEI Study on Operations and Investment Practices of Institutionally Related Foundations

In 2021, the Association of Governing Boards (AGB) and SEI’s Institutional Group collaborated to survey 130 institutionally related foundations (IRFs) in an effort to establish benchmarks and identify themes among these organizations. The study focused on two distinct areas—operations and investment management—and looked to share data upon which IRFs could gauge how their organization compares. It was not intended to provide best practices but instead to represent a status report based on conditions at the time of the survey (July—September 2021).

On the operations front, we researched staffing, reporting structure, operating budgets in a post-pandemic environment, inflation expectations, spending rates, and use of administrative fees. When it comes to investment management of the endowment, we looked into expected returns, use of alternatives, overall asset allocations, use of SRI/ESG strategies, and the types of investment management providers they use.

The complete results of the study provide data that can be used to better understand…