2005 Investment Report

Fiscal year 2005 ended with annual investment returns that outperformed specified benchmarks for the 1-year, 3-year, 5-year and 10-year periods in each of Community Foundation Silicon Valley’s three investment pools and increased investment balances by $24 million.

When compared to the community foundation peer group, CFSV’s long-term investment pool earned .30 basis points more than the median return of 9.1% (based on Council on Foundation’s surveys). The long-term pool has posted an annual return of 10.2% dating back to 1988, the pool’s inception date. Additionally, the Foundation exceeded its fundraising goal of $80 million by $58 million and as a result, experienced positive net cash flow (gifts minus grants) of $72 million into the investment pools.

Investment pool balances and returns at 6/30/05 are as follows:

The S&P 500 ventured into positive territory for the trailing 12-months with a 6.30% return in fiscal year 2005. Comparatively, the S&P sustained a -2.38% loss for the last 5 years compared to CFSV’s long-term pool return of 3.3%. The Russell 2000 small cap stock index produced a 9.45% return, the Lehman Brothers Aggregate Bond index posted a 6.81% return and the MSCI EAFE international index rose 13.65% during fiscal year 2005.

In 2005, CFSV’s investment committee and investment advisors, Beacon Pointe, continued to work on further diversifying the investment pools to mitigate risk and maximize return. In the long-term pool, one additional international equity manager was added to diversify into the emerging markets arena and a small cap manager was added to further diversify the domestic equity allocation in the long-term and intermediate pools. An additional investment was made to the long-term pool’s real estate allocation.

For further information on CFSV’s investment performance and strategy please contact Ellen Ammerman, CFO, at (408) 278-2200 or eammerman@cfsv.org.