Investment Policy

1. Recommend to the Board the selection of the Investment Manager or Managers to manage the assets on a day-to-day basis.
2. Establish and periodically review and revise investment objectives and guidelines and give such instructions to the Manager, as it deems appropriate.
3. Recommend to the Board and communicate to the Manager the withdrawal rate for assets distributions.
4. Monitor and assess the management of the assets and the performance of the Manager.
5. Appoint the Advisory Committee on Investments which will meet at least four times a year to evaluate the investment advisor and to advise the Finance Committee on investment performance. Quarterly evaluation shall refer to benchmarks such as the S & P 500 Index, the Russell 1000, or other standard measures adopted from time to time by the Advisory Committee.

The Investment Manager shall:

1. Make all investment decisions with respect to the Assets.
2. Comply with this statement of Investment Policy and any other written instructions provided by the Committee from time to time.
3. Advise the Committee if in the Manager’s judgment any provisions of the Statement or other instructions will preclude the Manager from managing the Assets in accordance with the Board of Trustees’ investment objectives.

Investment Objectives:
The Trustees of the Brookline Community Foundation are responsible for the prudent management of the community foundation’s Assets pursuant to G.L. c.180A of the General Laws. The Trustees are held to that standard of good faith, diligence, and skill to which a prudent investor is held under similar circumstances. This is also the standard to which the Trustees are held in delegating day-to-day management of the Community Foundation’s Assets to the Manager.

The Assets will be managed as a trust fund on a total return basis to provide a long-term growth and source of cash flow to help meet the current and future operating and grantmaking needs of the Community Foundation. The allocation of assets among various types of securities shall be reviewed from time to time by the Manager and the Advisory Committee on Investments, and the Finance Committee, in light of the objectives of the Community Foundation and the condition of the underlying markets.

The selection of individual investments and allocation among asset classes will be governed by the following Investment Guidelines.

Investment Guidelines
The Community Foundation's Assets shall be managed by the Manager, who shall be a registered investment advisor, under the supervision of the Finance Committee. Selection of individual securities is the sole responsibility of the Manager, subject only to restrictions that may be adopted from time to time by the Finance Committee.

The primary objective of the common stock portion of the investment portfolio is long-term growth based on total return on investment. The portfolio should emphasize equity securities issued by companies possessing financial strength and proven management. The basic characteristics of a company's business are an important determinant of its ability to produce superior total return. Valuation considerations should play an important role in identifying the best relative values among fundamentally attractive companies and industries.

The common stock portfolio will be diversified with regard to specific firms and economic sectors. Convertible securities may be used, assuming the statistical relationships with the underlying common stock are reasonable. Foreign securities listed on the U.S. securities exchanges are also acceptable, assuming they meet the fundamental and valuation criteria. Excessive portfolio turnover is to be avoided.

The allocation of assets within the portfolio shall be reviewed regularly, at least quarterly, by the Advisory Committee on Investments in consultation with the Manager. The percentage of equities in the total portfolio of investments should remain within the range of 50% - 80%. The percentage of bonds, other fixed income instruments and cash should remain in the range of 20% - 50% of the total portfolio. Generally, as a share of the total portfolio, no more than 10% shall be held in cash; no more than 5% shall be invested at cost, or 10% at market value, in any one issue; and no more than 20% at market value in one industry, except U.S. Government obligations.

Investment Restrictions

Investment activity in the following is prohibited:

1. Letter stock or private placements
2. Commodities or short selling
3. Any type of margin transaction
4. Securities lending
5. Venture capital investments
6. Futures and options transactions
7. Hedge Funds
8. High-risk bonds

Notwithstanding the generality of the foregoing restrictions, the Assets may include donations of restricted securities for a reasonable period of time until their lawful sale or redemption.

Asset Distributions

In order to ensure that the total return from the Assets will be sufficient to meet the Community Foundation's reasonable needs in the future, the Trustees have adopted and may revise from time to time a spending rule based on a percentage of the fair market value of the Assets, calculated on the basis of market values determined quarterly and averaged over a period of the preceding 12 fiscal quarters. The Community Foundation's spending rule shall be substantially below the 7% maximum set forth in G.L.c. 180A

Reporting and Communications
The Manager will supply to the Finance Committee, through the Advisory Committee on Investments, at least quarterly, reports showing the composition, values, distributions, changes in value and comparisons of performances to indexes of the portfolio securities, as well as the fees and expenses of management of the Assets, and periodic monthly reports showing investment progress. The Finance Committee may make changes to the guidelines, restrictions and objectives and shall notify the Manager of such changes in writing. The Finance committee will approve the format, frequency and distribution of reports from the Manager.