Nothing grabs the attention of a charity board more than underperforming investments and the impact this has on grantmaking. At Community Foundations for Lancashire and Merseyside (CFLM) we are fortunate to benefit from over-performing investment managers who have bought in to our long-term aims, as opposed to short-term returns. A collaborative approach to investment draw-down and investment focus is supported by the ability of our fund managers CCLA and Investec to act quickly as and when operational needs require.

One of the challenges in the current market is the propensity for potential donors to engage in a rigorous due diligence process prior to donating. This due diligence approach has often focused on financial management as applied internally by our senior management team, but focus has also been placed on terms of investment management as demonstrated by agreements with those acting for us. This has been both a challenge and an opportunity for us to better develop our prospect proposals.