2009 Financials

The Foundation's goal remains constant: to increase our investments in the community to meet the needs of the people of Rhode Island, and to inspire additional philanthropy throughout our state – not to raise dollars for the sake of boasting a large endowment.

 The Rhode Island Foundation employs long-term investment strategies and sound financial principles to ensure not only that the philanthropic contributions entrusted to us last forever but also that we make available the maximum dollars possible for grantmaking.

A committee of Foundation directors and community members with expertise in the field governs our investments. In addition to its chief financial officer, the Foundation utilizes an outside investment consultant. The Foundation's asset allocations are diversified and we set high performance standards for our investment managers. During the past decade, the Foundation has increased the proportion of equity investments and has expanded its portfolio to include emerging markets, alternative investments, and global fixed income assets. In a strategic move by the investment committee, real asset allocation increased by five percent in 2009.

The Foundation is committed to a "total return" investment philosophy, including a 5.9%spending limit, to ensure that our endowment grows in perpetuity. Any investment return earned over the spending limit is added to principal, thus increasing the size of the endowment to combat inflation and overcome cyclical down markets. In 2009, we were pleased to see our investment performance climb over 20%, and our endowment once again top the half-billion mark. We are also proud of our 15-year annual investment return of 8.8 percent.

Our investment strategy is designed to garner results in keeping with our overarching goals: increasing our investments in the community and boosting overall philanthropy throughout Rhode Island. We also are committed to carefully managing our operating expenses, again with the goal of maximizing our investments in Rhode Island. We are delighted to report that thanks to these strategies and to our 16-quarter trailing average policy we were able to distribute more than $27 million in the community in 2009 – a record breaking grantmaking number.

Selected Financial Information

Years ended December 31, 2009 and 2008. Full financial statements are available upon request. Form 990s, when they are complete, will be available at www.rifoundation.org.