CFAP hosts sold out 8th Annual Endowment, Foundation and Philanthropy Conference
The date was June 8, 2017 and the venue was the Convene (formerly known as the The Hub), Finance Professionals, CFA Charter holders, Investment managers etc. converged for the 8th edition of the Annual Endowment, Foundation and Philanthropy (EFP) Conference. As a testament to how eagerly anticipated this year’s event was, the attendee slots were sold out days before the registration deadline; this came as no surprise because the previous EFP conferences had delivered returns above and beyond the expectations.
The day kicked off with a networking breakfast with the attendees either catching up with old colleagues/ friends, while also making new ones. This year’s event featured two panels, A and B, running concurrently with intermittent joint key note sessions. The first session by Panel A touched on the issues faced by EFP funds in the bid to achieve 5% returns net of inflation, while Panel B addressed Donor-Advised Funds and the cloud of suspicion which their rise has attracted. The second session which centered on Venture and Impact Philanthropy and Governance Issues in Family foundations, by Panels A and B respectively, put to rest some of the burning issues around these topics.
The morning keynote address was characterized by humor infused insight into the developments in Washington D.C. and their impact on the not-for-profit sector; this session was anchored by non-other than Conrad Teitell of Cummings & Lockwood LLC. One could arguably say that the highlight of his session was when he pulled out a Salami from his bag when describing the ‘Salami’ tax.
(L-R) Conrad Teitell sharing his insight about the 'Salami' tax. Mary Jane Bobyock, CFA, moderating the session which featured Ryan Lennie, James Iglewski, Amanda Agati, CFA, and Travis Pruit, CFA, as panelists
CFAP knowing how important this issue is in light of the surge in index and passive investment decided to devote the third session of panel A to address this topic, while Panel B focused on how not-for-profits can improve their Governance. This was followed by Lunch and then the Luncheon keynote address in which Jeffrey Rosenberg of BlackRock addressed the impact that the rising Federal Reserve rates and low interest rates could have on fixed income securities.
The final round of Panel sessions featured the past CFAP President, Jeremy Bach, moderating the Panel A Chief Investment Officer session, while Panel B addressed the governance implication of having an outsources CIO manage a not-for-profit. Rounding off the sessions for this year’s conference, Panel A decided to focus on the seemingly unthinkable, if demise of the ‘Endowment model’ has begun, while Panel B focused instead on addressing the issues involved with running an Endowment. The day concluded with a Networking reception, however, this was like no other because the attendees were equipped with the information for successfully running their EFP funds.
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