StL Federation Investments Show Strong Return
from jewishinstlouis.org:
Jewish Federation’s Jewish Community Foundation of St. Louis (JCF), which holds the endowment funds and planned gifts for Jewish Federation and many of our community agencies, has shown a very strong investment return in 2009 of 24.7% over ’08. Although not a full recovery, assets have reached a total of $99.2 million.
… While Federation is investing to grow long term, we are also providing an annual source of revenue for our community, said Judy Abrams, Jewish Federation’s chief administrative officer, who is the lead staff person on the committee. “It is important that the committee keeps apprised of the cash needs of Jewish Federation and its agencies.” Abrams is on top of what the cash requirements are likely to be and what emergency reserves are needed.
“Keeping cash aside is something we’ve recently started to do so we’re not forced to sell and take losses in our portfolio to meet short term needs. I pay close attention to liquidity requirements and what the obligations are for each year. Both are tied closely to Jewish Federation’s allocation decisions. As a result, we’ve maintained 5% of our portfolio in cash during these uncertain times as a safeguard. This is sufficient cash to meet all expected and unanticipated short-term needs and to meet the needs of the agencies that have invested their funds in the Jewish Community Foundation,” Abrams said.