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The Community Foundation for the Fox Valley Region strives to make your charitable giving easy, personally rewarding and more beneficial to the community. Our knowledge about important issues facing the Fox Valley Region is based on strong relationships with nonprofits and our unwavering pursuit of understanding our community needs.
Individual gifts, when joined with others given through the Community Foundation for the Fox Valley Region, ensure the impact lasts forever so that our community will always flourish.
When you establish a fund within the Foundation we invite you to work with our team of skilled professionals who are dedicated to providing excellent service to help you enhance your giving experience. We can provide these personalized services:
You can review your charitable giving to date, recommend a grant online or update your contact information at any time of day by accessing your Fund Advisor Portal.
Megan Schuessler
Vice President of Donor Services & Gift Planning
David Weiss
Director of Donor Services
Michelle Lippart Hardwick
Director of Gift Planning
Choua Schommer
Scholarship Manager
Crystal Harrison
Donor Services Manager
Kelly Hicks
Donor Services Manager
Heather Judge
Donor Services Coordinator
Alona Boots
Donor Services Specialist
The Community Foundation prudently invests charitable funds so they may strengthen the community for current and future generations, carrying out our generous donors’ wishes to impact their communities and make a difference in the lives of others.
The Community Foundation’s investment strategy is managed by our Outsourced Chief Investment Officer (OCIO) Fund Evaluation Group (FEG) Investment Advisors, whose advisors are working with our volunteer investment committee members, who are local experts in investment and finance.
With our OCIO approach, we set the investment policy and strategic direction to ensure that performance meets or exceeds expectations. FEG performs the research, hires the investment managers and has discretion to make the portfolio decisions real-time without the delays in decision-making that can be common for endowments.
Endowed funds provide support in perpetuity for the charitable causes selected by donors. We seek to secure investment returns sufficient to support an annual distribution of up to 4.5% to the donors favored charitable causes, to cover modest administrative expenses, and to preserve the purchasing power of the fund. To accomplish this goal without generating undue risk, the Foundation adheres to a diversified asset allocation strategy and relies on professional investment managers experienced in specialized sectors of the investment markets. Target asset allocations, and the managers serving the Foundation in each of these classes, can be downloaded here.
Non-endowed (“spend-down”) funds generally provide support for selected charitable causes over a shorter time frame and at a higher rate of distribution than permanent endowment funds. To accommodate the heightened need for short-term stability and liquidity, spend-down funds are invested in one of three pools, depending on the anticipated timeframe for fund distributions.
The three pools are invested primarily in various Vanguard funds according to the following asset allocations which you can download and view here.
The Community Foundation’s Investment Committee sets investment strategy, hires professional managers and monitors investment performance against industry benchmarks. Committee members have extensive expertise in business, investments and financial matters. Current Investment Committee members are:
Chuck Self, Chair
Jeffrey Esker*
Mike Lokensgard*
Melanie Miller
Jesse Nelson*
Greg Pawlak*
Kathryn Sieman*
Matthew Vechart*
Jeff Werner*
Christine Cousineau (Ex-Officio)
Laura Meronk (Ex-Officio)
Curt Detjen (Ex-Officio)
*Denotes community member
The Community Foundation’s investment strategy is managed by our new Outsourced Chief Investment Officer (OCIO), FEG Investment Advisors. FEG has extensive institutional experience, working with more than 40 community foundations across the nation. Ninety percent of the firm’s OCIO institutional clients are nonprofits. FEG has over $65 billion under advisement, and consistently outperforms the market. Additionally, FEG’s expertise will help provide the financial footing necessary to support our philanthropic mission. FEG works with our local volunteer investment committee members who are experts in investment and finance.
The Community Foundation’s investment strategy is designed to preserve and grow capital, helping to ensure that donors’ charitable assets benefit the community now and for generations to come. Portfolios embrace diversification and active management. This strategic approach helps guard against short-term market swings while still providing the opportunity for long-term gains.
The Community Foundation and our investment committee are responsible to establish the investment policy and strategic direction. The OCIO is empowered to select and manage the investment managers within the approved policy, while remaining accountable to the Community Foundation for results.
We selected FEG as our OCIO partner due to its strong and extensive institutional experience. FEG works with more than 40 community foundations across the nation, and 90% of the firm’s OCIO institutional clients are nonprofits. FEG has over $65 billion under advisement, and consistently outperforms financial benchmarks. FEG’s expertise will help provide the financial footing necessary to support our philanthropic mission.
The Community Foundation has separate asset allocations for its long-term endowment portfolio and three non-endowed portfolio options, based on donor-intended timing for charitable distributions.
Portfolio updates are provided by FEG. To request a copy of our quarterly investment report, please email us here.
Please note: The Community Foundation’s fiscal year is from January 1 to December 31.
Contact the Community Foundation if you have any questions: 920.830.1290, or info@cffoxvalley.org.
4455 W. Lawrence St.
Appleton, WI 54914
(920) 830-1290
Monday-Friday:
8:00am – 11:30am,
Noon – 4:00pm
Confirmed in compliance with national standards for U.S. community foundations.
