Endowment
The Endowment is permanent capital fund that seeks to give solidity and continuity over time to the activities of the Foundation. It allows to undertake future projects, in many cases of an innovative and long-term nature, by providing a stable source of income that can be devoted to strategic projects. The Endowment grows mainly through new donations.
The Endowment is managed so that future generations will have at least the same capacity for action as the present generation (intergenerational equity). To this end, part of the profit (interest, dividends, capital gains, etc.) is reinvested back into the fund itself, so that purchasing power is not lost due to the effects of inflation. Therefore the impact of a donation is permanent.
The IESE Endowment is committed to the principles of socially responsible investment, and seeks to invest in funds or initiatives that promote environmental care, social responsibility, and ethical governance practices.
Investment
Investment Committee
To manage financial investments, the Board established the Investment Committee.
The Investment Advisory Committee offers its recommendations to the Board: proposes profitability and risk objectives, defines financial assets, selects external consultants and fund managers, and advises
on all aspects management of financial assets, always within the framework overall risk/return approved by the Board.
The committee is made up of investment experts. The group meets regularly to share analyses and make recommendations.
The investment committee members are:
León Bartolomé
MBA’84
Managing Director of Alcarama
Eusebio Díaz Morera
MBA’69
President of EDM
Francisco García Paramés
MBA’89
President of Cobas AM
Pablo Fernández
Professor of Financial Management, IESE
Pablo González
MBA’90
Managing Director of Abaco Capital
Christopher Ivey
MBA’01
Head of European Private Client Practice, Cambridge Associates
Jordi Gual
Prof. of Economics, IESE
President of Vidacaixa
Rob Johnson
Venture Capitalist
Visiting Professor, IESE
Jaime Alonso Stuyck
Committee Chairman
Director of the IESE International Foundation
Investment policy
The Board of Trustees is ultimately responsible for managing the Endowment, for which it approves the Investment Policy, which sets the investment objectives and the acceptable risks as well as the fundamental rules and criteria that must be taken into account in its management.
The Investment Policy establishes the general objective of achieving a balance between these three aspects, in order of importance:
- Distributing a certain percentage of the fund each year to finance activities, via a mechanism that provides stability;
- Preserving the purchasing power of the fund in the long term;
- Maximizing the profitability of the Endowment in the long term.
Furthermore, the Policy establishes the Strategic Asset Allocation, that is, the percentage distribution of assets by class for which it must aim. For each percentage, tolerance bands are established so that, within these margins, the Investment Committee determines at all times the amount invested in each class and considers a possible rebalancing on a quarterly basis. For each class, a benchmark is also established by which the efficacy of the investments made is measured, and for the Endowment as a whole there is an active and a passive benchmark.
To better fulfill its mission, the Board of Trustees has asked the Investment Committee to try to maximize the profitability of the Endowment, but in a manner consistent with the principles of Responsible Investment. To do this, it has approved a specific policy to ensure that investment activity is aligned with the mission and values of the Foundation.
Ethical and responsible investment
The IESE Endowment is eminently social in character in that all the income it generates is destined for research projects and scholarships, thus promoting academic development and that of society as a whole.
It is precisely in compliance with this social purpose that the Endowment seeks to maximize the return on its financial investments, while always bearing in mind the ethical implications of some investment decisions and the principles of Responsible Investment.
The Foundation is aware of the environmental, social, and good corporate governance (ESG) risks arising from aspects as varied as lack of respect for human rights, discriminatory practices, child labor, lack of respect for the environment, etc.
In cases of direct investment, the Endowment avoids getting involved in companies whose mission or usual practices do not align with the values it promotes.
Furthermore, the Investment Policy includes an exhaustive list of questions on responsible investment for use in the due diligence carried out before investing, under the leadership of an external manager who is expected to engage with companies through the sensible and transparent use of the voting rights conferred by share ownership, and in informal dialog with their directors, in order to encourage ethical conduct and better management of ESG risks and opportunities.
