By: Ben Valore-Caplan
The JEWISHcolorado investment strategy emerges from careful consideration of the diverse needs of donor-advised funds, agency funds, permanent endowments, and other asset pools under JEWISHcolorado’s care. In addition to seeking compelling absolute and relative performance, four key philosophic values inform our structure and decision-making:
- Transparency
- Flexibility
- Liquidity
- Cost-effectiveness
While we strive to provide insights into our investment strategy on at least a quarterly basis, we thought you might find it interesting to get a sense of our positioning. Whether fundholders are using one of JEWISHcolorado’s asset allocation models (e.g., Conservative, Moderate, Growth, etc.) or requesting a custom allocation, these positions represent the tactical calls within each asset class.
Within equities, we have for several years maintained an overweight to US equity versus its allocation in global equity markets. This overweight has served the portfolio well given that US equities have gained 11.9% per year over the past decade, while non-US equities have earned just 3.5% per year (although we are pleased that our Israel equities earned an annualized 5.3% during that time). Also, within equities, in the US we are intentionally focused on more “Core” exposure even though the US market is heavily tilted toward “Growth.” While this core exposure caused a slight lag in 2023 and 2024 when seven companies closely associated with Artificial Intelligence drove the market, the portfolio is more broadly diversified than the market and should serve the portfolio well in uncertain or negative markets, like what we have been experiencing in the first quarter of 2025. Lastly, almost three-fourths of our equity exposure is achieved through passive indexes, reducing tracking error and expenses.
With fixed income, we have long attended to managing risk and creating opportunity through sector exposures, managing duration, and thoughtfully taking credit risk. As a result, our fixed income portfolios have meaningfully outperformed both global and domestic bond indexes net of expenses, adding about 2.0% per year over the Bloomberg Global Bond Index since we started tracking returns versus the index in 2009.
While hedge fund strategies and real estate represent smaller portions of the portfolio and private markets are only used in JEWISHcolorado’s endowments, all three asset classes have performed reasonably well versus their objectives and their market indices. We know that donors and agency partners choose JEWISHcolorado as a trusted home for stewarding philanthropic assets for many reasons. We’re also proud that sound investment management and solid results can be a meaningful part of that rationale.