Leita Insights

Who Does the Work? Investment Governance Takeaways from Philanthropy Southeast 2026

October 12, 2026

News & Events

In an increasingly complex investment landscape, Anna Dunn Tabke, CFA, CAIA, founder and president of Leita Advisory, led the webinar "Beyond Performance: Governance, Alignment, and Communication in a More Complex Investment Portfolio" as part of the Philanthropy Southeast 2026 Virtual Investing Series on October 8. Joining her was Anne Davis, president of The Christy-Houston Foundation, Inc., and a trustee of the Murfreesboro Community Investment Trust.

Anne brings a unique perspective, sitting on both sides of the table. She leads a small foundation staff that collaborates with the board and an outsourced chief investment officer (OCIO). Additionally, she serves as a trustee on a board that recently hired its first OCIO, giving her firsthand experience navigating governance from multiple vantage points.

To help nonprofit leaders navigate these challenges, the webinar explored two key questions that are top of mind for organizations today:

What is your job under your investment governance model?
What does that model require to work?

Why governance needs more attention now

A foundation committed to existing in perpetuity faces the challenge of generating returns that cover both spending and inflation. This typically means a target of around CPI + 5% annually. Achieving this benchmark has become increasingly complex. For example, in fiscal 1999, the average U.S. college and university endowment allocated about 8% to alternatives such as private equity, venture capital, hedge funds, real estate, and commodities. By fiscal 2025, that figure had grown to approximately 30%.

Each allocation introduces its own managers, paperwork, capital calls, tax documents, and valuation challenges. Oversight structures—whether a board, investment committee, executive director, CFO, consultant, or OCIO—vary widely across foundations. As a result, the same title can entail very different roles and responsibilities depending on the organization.

Five Takeaways

1. Know which decisions you own

Understanding different approaches to investment management is essential for foundations, as it shapes how they steward their assets. Foundations usually get investment help in one of three ways, and many blend them:

Internal investment team: Investment staff make all portfolio decisions. This approach is rare outside of very large foundations.
Investment consultant: The consultant provides advice, the committee makes recommendations, and the board grants final approval.
OCIO: The OCIO handles day-to-day investment decisions within the guidelines set by the Investment Policy Statement (IPS).

The division of responsibilities can vary significantly between the consultant and OCIO models. When working with a consultant, the board or committee sets return and spending policy, determines strategic asset allocation, selects managers, and oversees rebalancing. Staff handle much of the operational work. In the OCIO model, the committee still sets return and spending policy and strategic asset allocation. However, manager selection, rebalancing, cash management, reporting, and paperwork become the responsibility of the OCIO, while the committee and staff focus on oversight.

An OCIO shares fiduciary duty with the investment committee, and the committee remains responsible for its portion of that duty. Because every agreement is different, committees should carefully review theirs to understand specific responsibilities.

A key question from the session to bring to any committee discussion is: When your provider brings something to a meeting, are you being asked to decide, to give input, or to understand an action already taken? Clarity on your role is essential.

2. Capacity: someone has to do the work

Today, an OCIO’s responsibilities fall into two main areas: investments and operations, reflecting both the role's complexity and flexibility. On the investment side, the OCIO makes key portfolio decisions such as hiring and firing asset managers, setting tactical asset allocation, and rebalancing the portfolio to capitalize on market shifts and short-term opportunities. On the operations side, the OCIO handles tasks like completing paperwork for asset management funds, raising cash, and maintaining important documents, including K-1s and AML/KYC verifications.

Increasingly, organizations can mix and match which roles the OCIO, internal staff, or committees handle—a significant shift from the more rigid service models of the past. Organizations no longer assume an OCIO will take on every investment and operational function; instead, service menus are highly customizable to each client’s needs. This increased choice also brings the risk of confusion. Without clear definitions, it can be unclear who is responsible for tasks such as managing K-1s, making trades, preparing reports, deciding on managers, or updating the IPS. Every committee and internal finance team should be able to state exactly who handles each of these responsibilities.

As Anna notes, "The work never really disappears; it just shifts around." This underscores the importance of being intentional and explicit about task ownership within the organization.

3. Clarity: why the portfolio is built this way

A strong Investment Policy Statement (IPS) is fundamental to effective portfolio governance. The IPS serves as the board’s written plan for the portfolio, setting objectives, spending policy, asset allocation, benchmarks, and outlining clear roles and responsibilities. Best practice is to review it every two years, or even annually, to ensure it remains a living, relevant document that guides decision-making and accountability.

A good IPS provides clarity and alignment by answering four questions every trustee should be able to address:

What is our portfolio strategy, and why have we chosen it?
How does our portfolio support the organization’s mission and fund our spending?
Who is responsible for decisions about objectives, asset allocation, manager selection, and money movements?
How will we monitor the portfolio’s performance and progress over time?

4. Communication: meetings that connect the numbers to strategy

Quarterly meetings can easily drift into simply reviewing performance reports and discussing recent market movements. To keep meetings valuable and strategic for fiduciaries, consider these best practices:

Revisit the reasoning behind the strategy every year.

Focus on one topic per meeting to build shared understanding of strategies and managers, so that any negative performance is seen in context.

Document the rationale behind each decision, so new members inherit not just the portfolio, but also the reasoning and context for past choices.

5. Composition: building the right board for investment oversight

A strong investment board is made up of trustees who are prepared to make decisions, do their homework before meetings, and ask insightful questions. Effective boards benefit from a diversity of perspectives, not just investment expertise. Members from different professional and personal backgrounds can contribute valuable questions and viewpoints, strengthening oversight and decision-making.

Northern Trust's guidance for nonprofit directors covers several habits of strong boards, including: know the documents, bring in experts, "govern, don't manage," and build and renew the board.

Questions for your next committee meeting:

Capacity: Who is responsible for key tasks, and where do we have gaps?
Clarity: Can every trustee explain why the portfolio is structured this way and how it is expected to perform?
Communication: Do our meetings foster true understanding, or do they simply report information?
Composition: Do we have the right mix of people and perspectives at the table?

Thank you to Philanthropy Southeast for hosting this event and to Anne Davis for sharing her valuable insights and dual perspectives.

Leita Advisory is an independent OCIO search consultant that helps endowments, foundations and healthcare organizations select and evaluate outsourced chief investment officer partners.

Learn more about Leita and its founder, Anna Dunn Tabke

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