If there is anything a two-year global health and economic crisis has shown nonprofits is that financial stability is fragile. Even with good nonprofit financial planning, organizations survive on the thinnest of margins, focusing all resources on the philanthropic mission, often with very little wiggle room to maneuver out of a emergency. An untimely mistake or an unanticipated loss can require a sufficient cash Read More
Nonprofit Investing and Emerging Markets
At Fairlight Advisors, we have long advocated that a nonprofit endowment investment strategy include a well-diversified, global market portfolio which includes both equity and fixed income allocations to emerging markets. The last five years of returns have been lumpy for Emerging Markets to say the least. While there were some bright spots such as China’s faster recovery from the pandemic in Q’3 of 2020, there were Read More
What’s on the Fixed Income Menu: An Array of Solutions for Nonprofit Reserves
Imagine a toolbox with only one tool: a hammer. The hammer is versatile for projects big and small, but if you’re building a house, as we all know, a toolbox with a lonely hammer won’t get the job done. In the same way, building a financially resilient nonprofit needs a variety of financial planning tools to fund the philanthropic mission. Yet several small to midsized nonprofits park all their funds—whether for Read More
Predicting Nonprofit Financial Resilience
They were flying the Cessna outside of Fairbanks, Alaska, so the story goes. Richard was training for his Instrument Flying Rules (IFR) test, certifying him to fly in poor visibility such as clouds, fog, rain or dust. My father, an experienced recreational pilot and already instrument rated, flew as co-pilot to help his friend prepare. Richard was wearing the standard IFR hood that covered his eyes from the Read More
