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The Bellagio Primer for Responsible Investment Management of Endowments
Download PRIME
Download the executive summary leaflet here
Overview
The Bellagio Forum for Sustainable Development (BFSD) submitted a paper at the WSSD in Johannesburg in 2002 calling for endowed foundations to rethink the manner in which they use and manage their funds.
Specifically, this means employing not just the return on the capital they have invested for philanthropic goals, but also the capital itself to foster the mandate of Foundations to induce change in society.
The Bellagio Forum decided therefore, as a first step in this process, to define a set of protocols that can guide the work of financial officers and become a practical benchmark tool for financial institutions - in line with the UN Global Compact Principles to which the Bellagio Forum has committed.
Goals
Short-term
Engage current BFSD members, endowed non-member Foundations and other key stakeholders to agree on the main principles that should guide responsible endowment management, and formulate a practical toolkit that reflects the priorities of these foundations in respect to good corporate governance, social responsibility of environmental stewardship. Encourage experts from the financial world to participate with the BFSD in developing and promoting the PRIME. Medium-term
Enlist several foundations among current BFSD members and participating non-members to implement the basic level of recommendations.
Promote the PRIME as a benchmark for foundation asset managers and trustees. Long-term
Establish the PRIME as a general reference for responsible asset management.
Implementation Plan
LEVEL I completed The BFSD task force completed its goals to: - Review existing methods of using ethical and sustainability criteria in investment decisions (state of the art review).
- Identify which non-financial indicators are regarded as important from the Foundations' point of view, and are judged "material" from an investment perspective.
- Review currently existing indices (DJSI, FTSE4Good, etc.) as well as other screening methods of defining investment portfolios to judge to what extent they meet these priorities.
- Establish varying degrees of implementation allowing Foundations to take both a passive and proactive ("shareholder activism") approach to the use of investments.
LEVEL II completed
- Understand more about Responsible Investment and its relevance to foundations.
- Be familiar with issues, players, strategies, and on-going initiatives.
- Know what action to take to start involving other trustees and their plan in a Responsible Investment strategy.
- Know where to look for further guidance.
LEVEL III actual
Engagement: "Making a Difference"
- Based on guidance from their respective boards, the asset managers and foundation trustees applying the PRIME Toolkit are able to play an active role in changing practices to better allign their mission and asset management.
- In the future, interested parties may participate in a fund that reflects the best practices of PRIME.
The Bellagio Forum Finance Working Group is consistently working on and updating plans for progress on the sustainable asset management front. If you would like to get invovled or are interested in learning more about PRIME, please contact the Bellagio Forum at prime@bellagio-forum.org. And for links to more information on Sustainable Asset Management click here. Design a PRIME Toolkit that will enable foundation heads to: |
