Page 21 - 2025 April Report

Report on Prime Buchholz event
By: Bobby Krause
Prime Buchholz Investor Roundtable April 15-16, 2025
Prime Buchholz invited client CEOs of Private Foundations to a two-day event in Boston. The event was well-planned and executed. JSF advisors were not in attendance, but it was a good opportunity to meet more of the Prime staff. I also had a chance to visit with Prime’s president, Bill McCarron.
Both Prime staff and consultants shared the topic of mission investing. Scalable approaches to aligning mission and investing were shared. Most of the foundations represented did not consider mission investment a high priority for their organizations. Recent legislation including HR9495 was discussed. This House bill under consideration could threaten the nonprofit status of organizations should they be found to support terrorist organizations. The potential interpretation of the language contained in the bill was of some concern to the guest consultant (lobbyist).
There was a robust discussion on the political climate’s impact on private foundations. There was general agreement that there remains enormous uncertainty. Given the political environment, it is likely that current events will continue to be disruptive and contested in the courts. Consequently, the final outcomes of current issues are likely months or longer before concluded.
Recent market volatility was also addressed. Prime and consultants affirmed the value of disciplined investing and the critical value of a strong Investment Policy. The guest panel emphasized the value of an investment committee reviewing the investment policy annually. In times of market volatility, the committee should pay particular attention to the targets within the allowable ranges. A clear justification should be documented and/or corrected if the portfolio is materially off-target ranges.
Prime offered a demonstration of their Prime Plus platform, which allows clients to view their portfolio digitally. The platform is impressive, available and free to Prime clients. Prime Plus enables clients to view reports and parse portfolio data. I plan to ask Prime to give a brief demonstration to the JSF Investment Committee in June.
Thank you
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