Atlanta Wealth Management provides fiduciary education and fiduciary assessments to help nonprofit investment stewards understand and prudently manage their investment fiduciary obligations.
Investment committee members and trustees of nonprofit organizations have fiduciary duties to their organization. As investment stewards, they have the legal responsibility for managing investment decisions, must care for their organization’s assets, and put their organization’s interest first. An investment steward is usually not an investment professional, but is responsible for selecting and overseeing investment professionals for the entity they serve.
Many investment stewards do not realize they are fiduciaries—and fewer still are truly aware of the full scope of their responsibilities. Investment committee members are often volunteers with little or no formal fiduciary training. The Uniform Prudent Management of Institutional Funds Act (UPMIFA) is a model state law that impacts foundations and endowments and has been adopted by most states. While fiduciary requirements for foundations and endowments are generally defined in state law, the actual processes that should be used to comply with those requirements are not clearly defined by law.
With that issue in mind, the Pittsburgh-based Center for Fiduciary Studies has developed Prudent Practices® for Investment Stewards to help them understand and meet their fiduciary responsibilities.
The Prudent Practices encompass a step-by-step investment process that ensures that an investment strategy is being properly developed, implemented, and monitored according to both legal and ethical obligations. Each of the Prudent Practices has been substantiated by applicable legislation, regulation, and/or case law to ensure compliance. Full citations, as well as detailed Criteria, narrative discussion, practical application, and suggested procedures can be found in the Prudent Practices for Investment Stewards Handbook.
Adopting the Practices into your nonprofit’s investment processes can mitigate compliance risk, improve efficiency and effectiveness, and perhaps reduce organization reputational risk. You can review these Prudent Practices now by downloading the Periodic Table of Global Fiduciary Standards for Investment Stewards.
If you or other members of your organization need guidance to evaluate and improve your fiduciary investment processes, Atlanta Wealth Management can help.
We can provide your foundation’s investment committee members and staff with training in fiduciary best practices that can help them meet their fiduciary responsibilities. As a first step, we would be pleased to send you a copy of the Prudent Practices for Investment Stewards Handbook described above. To receive the Handbook, call David Boone at 404-713-0247 or CONTACT US.
Learn more about our Foundation Fiduciary Assessments