The CIG are delighted to invite you to a joint talk:

Presentation 1: Charity Investment Governance Principles (40 minutes)

Gail Cunningham, an independent consultant, will be presenting on Phase Two of the Charity Investment Governance Principles. Phase Two focuses on helping charities to engage with the Principles through user case studies, checklists and short guides. Gail led the work to develop the Charity Investment Governance Principles, and also works as a consultant for the Environmental Funders Network and Better Society Capital.

The Principles were developed by a Steering Group made up of Charity Finance Group, Association of Charitable Foundations, National Council for Voluntary Organisations, Wales Council for Voluntary Action and the Secretariat of the Charities Responsible Investment Network, consulting over 100 charities, and with input from charity lawyers, chartered accountants, investment managers and advisers.

Presentation 2: Artificial Intelligence investment focus (40 minutes)

Maisie Hobbs from Cazenove Charities will be speaking on artificial intelligence in the context of markets and investment.  This will touch on bubble valuations, and Cazenove’s outlook for the nascent technology.

Maisie is a portfolio manager in the Cazenove Charities team, managing investments for charities, endowments, and foundations. She sits on Cazenove’s Direct Equity Committee, with a specialisation in healthcare companies and is a CFA Charterholder.

The meeting is kindly hosted by Legal & General Investment Management.

The CIG were delighted to host a joint talk:

Presentation 1: Investing to ensure your charity’s financial sustainability

Ian Gamon, Partner and Head of Investment for Charities, Endowments & Foundations at Lane Clark & Peacock, focued on how to organise charity investments to help charities run smoothly. He covered sustainable investment rules, liquidity management to meet ongoing cashflow requirements and setting a liquidity budget within the strategic asset allocation.

Presentation 2: Should charities invest in illiquid markets and if so how?

Hamza Azeem, Managing Director on Hamilton Lane’s Portfolio Management Group, and Freddie Gore Browne, Principal in Private Wealth Solutions at Hamilton Lane, looked at the benefits and difficulties of investment in illiquid asset classes (e.g. private equities, private credit and infrastructure). They covered the difficulties associated with traditional closed-ended illiquid funds and details of newer more innovative products that provide investors with more flexibility.

The meeting was kindly hosted by CCLA Investment Management.

The CIG were delighted that Charlotte Wood, Head of AI and Innovation at Schroders and Jo Hay, CEO of the Social Business Trust, were able to present an overview of key opportunities presented by generative AI, what tasks it lends itself well to, and Schroders’ approach to using the technology to deliver benefits. We had live demomstrations of AI in action, as well as hearing of tangible examples of AI being used within the charitable sector.

Kindly hosted by RBC Brewin Dolphin

The CIG was pleased to hear from James Brooke Turner, Investment Director at the Nuffield Foundation talk about his recent book, Investing for Charities. James shared his thoughts on endowment management and key areas trustees should consider for their investments.

Kindly hosted by Rathbones

The Charity Investors Group was delighted to be joined by Nick Moakes, Chief Investment Officer of The Wellcome Trust who reflected on his time managing the endowment for The Wellcome Trust and views on endowment management in general.

Kindly hosted by Brown Advisory

The Charity Investors Group was delighted to be joined by Richard Stone, the Chief Executive of the Association of Investment Companies (AIC) who discussed the latest trends, opportunities, and challenges in the world of investment trusts for charity investors.

Kindly hosted by Sarasin & Partners

The Charity Investors Group was delighted to be joined by Hamza El-Gomati, Senior Investment Director at investment consultancy Cambridge Associates. Hamza discussed the wide topic of alternative investments that can be used in charity portfolios, their benefits and risks.

Kindly hosted by Legal & General Investment Management

The Charity Investors Group was delighted to receive a talk by Tara Gillespie, Head of Global Assets at investment consultancy Redington. Tara discussed how charities and foundations need to structure their investments in a more challenging environment to tackle the increasing challenges they face.

Kindly hosted by Newton Investment Management

We were delighted receive a presentation by Christi Vosloo and Simon Martindale from Mayfair Capital who provided an overview of the current challenges that the real estate sector is facing in terms of net zero carbon and changing occupier preferences. The presentation is available on request.

Kindly hosted by RBC Brewin Dolphin

We were delighted to be joined by Dr Keith Myers, an independent energy expert from Westwood Global Energy Group as our speaker. Keith articulated how large integrated oil majors deal with the challenge of redeploying capital into renewables, while seeking to generate sufficient net revenues.

Kindly hosted by Rathbones Investment Management

Charity Investors Group held a facinating meeting at the offices of Legal & General Investment Management to look at geopolitical and cybersecurity issues that face charities. Our speaker was Professor Paul Cornish, Strategy and Security export at the CityForum.

Kindly hosted by Legal & General Investment Management

Alice Ryder, Head of Stanhope Consulting, gave a presentation on the aspects charities and managers should consider when reviewing their investments.

Kindly hosted by Cazenove Capital

We were delighted to welcome Benjamin Rick, from Social and Sustainable Capital, to discuss the issues surrounding charities ability to obtain and invest into sustainable capital that has a social impact.

Kindly hosted by Lane Clark and Peacock

We were excited to welcome the respected financial commentator and editor of MoneyWeek.

We were delighted to welcome Matthew Cox, Investment Director, Esmée Fairbairn Foundation who gave insight into the management of their £1bn endowment, and how they seek to align their investment strategy with their charitable aims.

Kindly hosted by Cazenove Capital

The CIG convened a panel of asset class experts to look at the safety of income from investments. With representatives from equities, property and bonds; this session was designed to be useful for charity investors - many of whom rely on investment income to support their operations.

Equities: Adrian Frost, Artemis Income Fund

Bonds: Simon Bond, Threadneedle UK Social Bond Fund

Property: James Thornton, Property Income Trust for Charities

We welcomed Professor Elroy Dimson, from the London Business School and Catherine Howarth from ShareAction to discuss whether engaging with companies that you invest in can really create change.

Kindly hosted by Legal and General Investment Management

We were delighted to welcome Professor Clarke, a Senior Associate Fellow of RUSI who will speak on the inherent stability risks and even unexpected advantages of the Trump presidency.

Kindly hosted by CCLA

We were delighted to welcome Oliver Bates, Sarasin & Partners LLP and Mick Brant, Teknometry to introduce a new charity peer group metric. ​ James Brooke Turner, Finance Director, Nuffield Foundation shared his thoughts on benchmarking for long term charity investors.

Kindly hosted by Sarasin & Partners

We were delighted to give an update on the ongoing developments regarding CAIFs from the Charity Commission, FCA, HMRC and Farrer.

Kindly hosted by Evelyn Partners (Smith & Williamson)