Investment Fees
One of the founding purposes of a good Community Foundation is to provide efficiencies in all charitable activities. For those who hold and manage charitable funds (family foundations, charitable trusts, or the endowment and reserves of nonprofits, for example) ECCF provides the economies of joint management of pooled funds. The cost (in time, paperwork, fees, and fiduciary responsibility, at least) of managing a large pooled fund at ECCF is lower than the cost of managing each smaller fund individually.
Of course, through ECCF’s professional fund accounting, the value of each individual Fund is clearly delineated in quarterly reports to each donor. Each Fund maintains its own distinct purposes, advisors, and relationship with ECCF staff.
The Community Foundation’s services for FundHolders include custodial and investment management, accounting, grantmaking advice and procedures, regular reports to FundHolders on their Fund’s activity and performance, and all filings and compliance with regulatory bodies. For these activities there are two modest fees, one for investment management itself, and one for all of ECCF’s services.
These fees vary with the size and type of your fund. Specific information is in the description of each type of fund. As you explore your choices at Types of Funds you’ll see estimates of the relevant fee. We will give you a specific figure as we discuss the Fund with you, and it will be written in your Fund Agreement.
As the Foundation’s pool of Funds grows, the fees decline, and its largest pool now carries a fee below 60 basis points (under six-tenths of one percent). ECCF is a nonprofit itself, so we are careful to keep the fees as low as possible while providing great service.
IMPORTANT DISTINCTION: in contrast to fees charged by commercial managers, which go into corporate coffers, most of ECCF’s fees stay here in the community and are directly used to support our many services to Essex County charities.
|
