Calgary Foundation has a robust management and governance structure in place to monitor and maintain its primary endowment portfolio. The Foundation’s objective is to earn a real rate of return over the long term that preserves the purchasing power of the endowment, 5.0% over a moving 10-year period. This target is an aggregate of the Foundation’s spending policy rate of 4.0%, which is the amount it grants to charities and spends on charitable activities, and a 1.0% provision for operating cost recovery.
The Foundation recognizes that it must take on some risk to execute its strategy, and that there are uncertainties and complexities when investing in capital markets. Accordingly, the Foundation utilizes the expertise of external investment managers that work in accordance with the Foundation’s Statement of Investment Policy to implement its investment strategy. This policy formulates the objectives and principal governance for prudent investment of the endowment and uses a total return strategy that adds capital gains to other potential income sources to achieve the long-term return objective.