The Rhode Island Foundation is a unique financial steward. On the one hand, we must be banklike, to ensure that the charitable dollars entrusted to us are available in perpetuity. That requires long-term investment strategies and unusual stability.
 
On the other hand, the Foundation wants to maximize dollars available today so that our endowment holders and Board can distribute much-needed resources to meet community needs.

Happily, our sophisticated investment efforts and the new endowment partners who join the Foundation each year, have made both responsibilities possible.
 
Since 1994, the Foundation has been steadily diversifying asset allocation and setting higher performance standards for investment managers. The Foundation has increased the proportion of equities in the mix and has included emerging markets and global fixed income assets in our portfolio. Despite the significant ups and downs of the market in the late 1990s and early 2000s, the Board and staff are confident that we are better positioned than ever before.
 
The Foundation maintains a commitment to a total return investment philosophy, including a 5.5% spending limit, to ensure the ongoing viability of funds. Any investment return earned over the spending limit is added to principal, thus combating inflation, overcoming down markets, and even growing endowments, all for the benefit of grantees.
 
Often "behind the scenes" in a discussion of philanthropy, managing the Foundation’s growing asset base is a key component of stewardship in philanthropy. The groundwork has been laid for an even more promising future.