At Rancho Santa Fe Foundation, we value being able to offer our fundholders the service and investment options they value. In August 2021, the Foundation’s Investment Committee unanimously approved the addition of ESG (Environment, Social and Governance) funds to RSFF investment options for our donors.
The following Proviso is intended to clarify the characteristics of the new ESG Pool.
- The ESG Pool may not fully replicate all the allocations and characteristics of the of RSFF Standard Investment Pool.
- The ESG Pool may have different performance characteristics than the Standard Investment Pool.
- The ESG Pool may be invested in ESG funds that have higher management fees than the funds held in the Standard Investment Pool.
- Donors who choose the ESG Investment Pool for all or a portion of their funds may be prioritizing ESG objectives ahead of matching the long-term investment results of the RSFF Standard Investment Pool.
- Assets in the RSFF ESG pool will be invested in funds designed to track indexes that apply certain environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) criteria. The Foundation, its Directors, Employees and Advisors make no claim about the ESG criteria applied by the funds.
The Investment Committee’s goals in selecting the ESG funds into which donor funds might be placed were the following:
- Seeks to track the asset allocation and performance Endowment Pool.
- Employs low cost, liquid index funds that have been screened for certain environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) criteria.
- ESG Funds will typically screen stocks of certain companies in the following industries: adult entertainment, alcohol, tobacco, weapons, fossil fuels, gambling, and nuclear power.
- ESG funds will typically exclude stocks of certain companies that do not meet standards of U.N. global compact principles and companies that do not meet certain diversity and governance criteria.
For more information, please contact
Chris Sichel, CEO at chris@rsffoundation.org | 858.764.0519
or Jeff Peterson, Controller at jeff@rsffoundation.org | 858.756.2358
