Foundations & Endowments
Since 2007, Veris has served foundations and endowments as a trusted investment advisor and OCIO helping mission-driven organizations activate their portfolios for greater impact.
Mission-aligned Investment Advisory & OCIO
Veris provides investment management and advisory services to foundations, endowments, and nonprofits seeking an advisor with genuine commitment to both financial rigor and organizational mission.
We have built and sustained mission-aligned portfolios through diverse market conditions since our founding in 2007. We serve as fiduciaries, aiming to help your organization meet its financial objectives, sustain grantmaking and operational needs, and advance the goals your organization was built to achieve.
Our process is collaborative and educational by design. We believe working closely with your Investment Committee, board, and staff builds the shared understanding needed for long-term success. Whether your organization is just beginning to explore mission alignment or deepening an established commitment, we seek to meet you where you are and work with you to develop and implement an impact-integrated investment portfolio.
Solutions Tailored to Your Mission
We customize the range of services we provide based on your organization’s specific financial goals, grantmaking needs, and appetite for mission alignment.
Veris can serve as your OCIO — providing mission-aligned IPS development, strategic asset allocation, manager due diligence and selection, and implementation and monitoring. We also help ensure governance systems are in place to support long-term implementation of your investment policy.
If your organization has an existing IPS, we can review and recommend updates in light of changing market conditions or evolving goals — bringing experience developing spending policies, mission investing guidelines, and impact screens.
Based on your return targets and grantmaking and operating cash flow needs, we can build a strategic asset allocation designed to meet your financial goals. We seek to make ongoing adjustments as appropriate and implement the final approved plan.
Veris can help transition your organization’s portfolio toward up to 100% mission alignment — integrating your mission across asset classes, developing an active ownership strategy, and identifying impact-first investments that serve your purpose.
For organizations interested in PRIs, we conduct due diligence on deals, monitor investments, and provide financial and impact reporting. Because PRIs typically sit outside our investment platform, these services are available for an additional fee. We can support your PRI program to help deepen the impact you are already making through your grantmaking.
Veris can support your grant disbursement process, including wire transfers and check writing to grantees.
We provide tailored organizational support, including IPS development, governance planning, and coordination between your investment practices and programmatic work — helping to establish coherence between your financial strategy and mission activities.
Veris leads sourcing, due diligence, and selection of institutional-quality funds — assessing risk-adjusted returns and impact alignment. Our proprietary EDI Manager Due Diligence Framework evaluates internal culture and investment processes alongside financial strategy.
We offer both discretionary and non-discretionary advisory services to suit your governance needs. We often work with foundations in a hybrid format to balance oversight with efficient execution.
We work with your organization’s staff and leadership team, Investment and Finance Committees, and Board to build knowledge and consensus on mission investing. Our team collectively has decades of impact investing experience and an extensive industry network.
We provide ongoing performance monitoring, monthly custodian statements, and quarterly performance reports accessible online. We deliver financial and impact performance reports in regular review meetings and prepare custom reports to support audits.
We offer guidance to help your organization develop innovative approaches to meet emerging needs shaped by politics, policy, or market cycles. We can also collaborate on thought leadership designed to build the field and inspire peer organizations to follow.
Organizations We Serve
Veris serves organizations with portfolios of $10 million – $200 million and above including:
- Private Foundations
- Community Foundations Endowments and Nonprofits
- Public and Operating Charities
- Religious Organizations
- And others seeking mission-aligned investment services.
Our ideal client is an organization seeking deeper alignment between its investments and its mission. You may be early in your impact journey or already mission-aligned and looking to go further. We have guided many organizations through that process and aim to work at a pace that is right for your board, staff, and stakeholders.
Outsourced Chief Investment Officer
Veris serves as a full OCIO for foundations and endowments supporting IPS development, asset allocation, manager selection, governance, and mission-aligned implementation.
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Read more about Outsourced Chief Investment OfficerOutsourced Chief Investment Officer
Get details on our OCIO services for foundations and endowments supporting IPS development, asset allocation, manager selection, governance, and mission-aligned implementation.
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Read more about Investment Research & DiligenceInvestment Research & Diligence
Our investments team seeks to identify high-quality, mission-aligned opportunities through deep research across impact themes.
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Read more about Investment Management & StrategyInvestment Management & Strategy
From strategic asset allocation and manager due diligence to impact reporting and active ownership, Veris seeks to construct and manage portfolios designed to meet your financial goals and advance your mission.
Investment Philosophy for Foundations & Endowments
We believe foundations can contribute meaningfully to a more equitable, just, and sustainable world through their investments — with positive environmental and social impact across asset classes. Our approach is grounded in these guiding tenets:
- Integration of financial and mission goals. Portfolio construction begins with understanding and integrating your financial objectives and your organizational purpose.
- Customization to your organization’s profile. Portfolios are tailored to your risk tolerance, liquidity needs (operational and grantmaking), time horizon (perpetuity or spend-down), and governance structure.
- Sustainability factors as a source of resilience. We believe sustainability factors can mitigate risk and support stronger long-term outcomes — aligning what is good for the world with what is good for the portfolio.
- Diverse perspectives improve outcomes. Our investments team and the managers we work with bring varied backgrounds and perspectives, which we believe strengthens the investment process.
- Fee sensitivity throughout. We aim to manage investment costs as a component of net return — built into the asset selection process, not treated as an afterthought.
Download Our Brochure
This PDF offers an overview of our OCIO services for foundations, endowments, and nonprofit organizations along with information about our firm, team, and approach to mission-aligned investing.