UnLtd, a charity which supports social entrepreneurs, has moved to invest its £175m endowment on a mission-aligned basis.
The endowment, the Millennium Awards Trust, was established by the government’s Millennium Commission in 2002, and its trust deed requires it to maintain its inflation-adjusted value.
Writing in the September issue of Charity Finance, Mark Norbury, UnLtd’s chief executive, and Jamie Broderick, a trustee and chair of UnLtd’s investment committee, explained that they believe they can meet this requirement while being mission-aligned.
“We have been exploring how we might interpret the terms of the trust deed to enable us to maintain initial real value while taking a more rounded, long-term view of returns,” they wrote.
They added that the charity has updated its investment policy “to ensure we have this holistic view”.
A new manager
Norbury and Broderick said they were “heartened” by the Butler-Sloss High Court ruling in 2022, which led to the Charity Commission updating its guidance for charities making investments.
In addition, the pair said that the charity decided to select a new fund manager “to develop a strategy across the whole portfolio which meets ambitious, long-term, risk-adjusted returns (4% + inflation), income requirement (UnLtd has a spend rate of 3.5%), while also being thoughtful and ambitious on impact”.
After a competitive process, UnLtd selected Cazenove Capital.
Kate Rogers, global head of endowments and foundations at Cazenove Capital, said: “This is a rare opportunity to support a pioneering charity that is reimagining how endowments can be managed for both performance and purpose.
“We will be reporting back on our progress, in the hope that we can encourage more endowments to take a step towards 100% mission alignment.”
Sharing learning
UnLtd is working with the Impact Investing Institute to develop a live case study and to track its progress, with the aim of encouraging more endowments to adopt a similar approach.
“We welcome conversations with other endowments interested in its experience, the dynamics of the transition, and lessons learned along the way,” Norbury and Broderick write.
“In addition to sharing outcomes in the years ahead, we are prepared to provide its investment policy, request for proposal documentation, and insights into its asset manager selection process.
“For those exploring similar changes, the organisation offers itself as a resource and an open partner in dialogue.”
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