Endowment Trustees

Resources

ALA Endowment Informational Documents

• ALA Endowment Fund Glossary of Terms (PDF)
• ALA Endowment FAQs (PDF)
• ALA Endowment Cost Structure Report (PDF)
• ALA Endowment Benefits Report (PDF)

Endowment Trustees Update to ALA Members, May 2020
from Patricia A. Wand, Senior Trustee

Through recent months of the volatile stock market and economic recession, the ALA Endowment has taken predictable dips, but overall is demonstrating that implementing a
strategic investment plan pays off.  Read the update.

Policy and Procedure Manual

American Library Association Endowment Trustees Policy and Procedure Manual, June 2019

Endowment Trustees Increase ESG Portfolio Allocation

In recent years, aspects of Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) have become important investment considerations for the ALA Endowment Trustees. ESG used to be called Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) and is also known as Impact Investing. At their February meeting, the Trustees made two new investments in ESG products. The first, Nuveen ESG U. S. Small Cap ETF, replaced Schwab U. S. Small Cap ETF. The $1 M Nuveen ESG U. S. Small Cap ETF fund is a subsidiary of TIAA and contains no energy or mineral extraction positions. The other investment made by ALA Trustees is a private equity ESG investment of $1M in The Partners Group new Lifetime ESG Fund. This fund just opened on February 21^st and is still in the capital formation phase. In a portfolio of $44.4 million (1/31/19), these two new investments raise the total of ESG investments to approximately 34.1% of the portfolio.

Rod Hersberger, Senior Endowment Trustee

BARC Response to ALA Council regarding Socially Responsible Investments Resolution

At the 2018 Midwinter Meeting in Denver a proposed resolution from SRRT regarding fossil fuels and the ALA Endowment Fund was forwarded to BARC for its review for potential financial implications. The proposed resolution was reviewed at both the Midwinter and Spring Meetings of BARC. Note that BARC also reviewed the proposed resolution in consultation with the Endowment Trustees and the Finance & Audit committee.

Here is BARC’s response to ALA Council regarding the Resolution (PDF)

Endowment Fund Holdings

At the 2018 Midwinter Meeting in Denver a request was made to the Senior Endowment Trustee Rod Hersberger to provide Council with the opportunity to review the holdings in the ALA Endowment Fund. The Trustees have worked diligently to make this happen. 

While some holdings are very accessible via monthly statements, others were a little more challenging for the following reasons:

• Direct links to the holdings of publicly traded mutual funds and Exchange Traded Funds (ETF’s) generally require more than several clicks in order to get to the intended information.
• Some funds/portfolios within the Endowment are proprietary in nature and are not available for review.

Here in a PDF showing the available holdings of the Endowment Fund (.PDF)

Here in an MS Excel workbook showing the available holdings of the Endowment Fund (.XLSX)