Mark Johnson Wealth Management has extensive experience in providing portfolio management to registered charitable foundations and endowment funds. The investment process begins with the “Request for Proposal” (RFP). We then provide a comprehensive “Investment Management Proposal” which includes the Investment Policy Statement” detailing the foundation’s investment objectives, risk tolerances, unique requirements specific to the particular charity, income distribution schedule, and performance analysis.

All portfolios are managed on a discretionary basis. Custody is generally provided by RBC Dominion Securities at no additional cost; however we are pleased to work with clients who require external custody as well.

Interested parties can click on the link below to access our client questionnaire;

Client Questionnaire

Please respond to the following questions:

1. OBJECTIVES OF THE FOUNDATION

  1. What is the nature and purpose of the organization?
  2. What is the purpose of the investment fund?

2. CURRENT STATE

  1. How much is in the current portfolio?
  2. What are the investments?
  3. What is the asset allocation?
  4. What has been the historical performance?

3. SPENDING PLAN (LIQUIDITY / INCOME NEEDS)

  1. How much money does the foundation need on an annual basis to achieve its objectives?
  2. Is the annual amount a fixed amount or does it change?
  3. What are the funds used for?
  4. Are projects funded on an ongoing basis or selected on an annual (or other) basis?
  5. How is the annual spending plan spent? Once a year? Quarterly? Monthly?
  6. Should provision be made for the withdrawal of funds on short notice?
  7. Is there a minimum amount that should be retained in cash?
  8. If it is a fixed amount, how is the amount calculated? E.g. A certain dollar amount per period; a percentage of the total value of fund; a percentage of the annual total return on the investment fund?
  9. Is there any requirement for income denominated in currencies other than Canadian dollars?
  10. If the endowment fund does not achieve its annual growth objectives, experiences a decline in value or has a unsuccessful fundraising campaign, will the foundation still implement their annual spending plan
  11. Does the foundation do any fundraising? If so, does it go entirely into the endowment or does some of it go into the annual spending account?
  12. Are there any other types of large capital inflows or outflows expected?

4. INVESTOR PROFILE / RISK TOLERANCE  

  1. How does the board / committee define risk?
  2. What level of risk is unacceptable?
  3. How important is it that the market value of the investment fund not fluctuate from year to year?
  4. What level of fluctuation is unacceptable?

5. RETURN OBJECTIVES/EXPECTATIONS

  1. What are the return objectives of the portfolio?
  2. What emphasis should be placed on generating income versus generating long term growth through capital gains (or capital gains and reinvestment of income)?

6. TIME HORIZON

  1. How long will the investment fund be in operation?
  2. Does the board/committee anticipate any event that would substantially affect how the investment fund is managed?

7. LEGAL AND REGULATORY CONSIDERATIONS

  1. Are there any legal or regulatory constraints on how the investment fund is managed?  If so, what are they?

8. ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS OR RESTRICTIONS

  1. Are there any circumstances affecting management of the organization’s assets or the assets of its investment fund that have not been disclosed, based on the questions above?  If so, what are they?
  2. Are there restrictions required on securities, industries, geographic areas of investments, or credit quality guidelines?

9. TAX CONSIDERATIONS

  1. What is the tax status of the investment fund?
  2. If the investment fund is non-taxable, what must be done to maintain its non-taxable status?

10. INFORMATION ABOUT THE FOUNDATION 

  1. How is the investment committee structure? 
  2. Who has decision-making authority for the investment fund? What are the voting practices?
  3. How often does the committee meet?
  4. How often do committee members change?

11. REPORTING AND REVIEWING

  1. What type of reporting do you require?
  2. How often should the Investment Policy be reviewed?
  3. What is the procedure for amending the Investment Policy?