Preservation of Principal
Protect the real and nominal value of resources that must sustain the Institute over long periods.
Investment & Reserve Policy
Preserve capital. Fund the mission responsibly.
The JR Institute intends to manage investments and reserves with discipline, liquidity, transparency, diversification, and long-term protection of institutional capacity.
Developing Framework
This page presents a planned public standard. Final asset allocation, spending rates, reserve targets, delegation limits, and investment authority should be approved by the Board of Trustees with qualified professional advice.
Policy Purpose
Investment decisions should protect both today’s work and tomorrow’s institution.
The Institute may hold operating cash, restricted funds, board-designated reserves, endowment assets, capital funds, and long-term investment pools with different purposes and time horizons.
Each pool should have a clear objective, permitted investments, liquidity standard, risk limit, spending rule, and oversight process.
Core Principles
Govern investments around purpose, safety, and endurance.
Liquidity
Maintain enough accessible cash and short-duration assets to meet operations, commitments, and emergency needs.
Diversification
Avoid excessive concentration by issuer, institution, asset class, maturity, strategy, or counterparty.
Mission Alignment
Investment practices should support charitable independence and avoid unacceptable legal, ethical, or reputational risk.
Independent Custody
Separate asset custody, investment management, accounting, authorization, and performance review where practical.
Measured Spending
Use investment income and reserves according to board-approved rules rather than short-term pressure.
Authority and Fiduciary Responsibility
The Board of Trustees retains ultimate responsibility for investment and reserve policy, even when duties are delegated to officers, committees, custodians, banks, or investment managers.
Delegation should define authority, reporting, permitted actions, approval thresholds, benchmarks, custody arrangements, and conflict-of-interest duties.
Investment and Reserve Pools
| Pool | Primary Purpose | General Time Horizon |
|---|---|---|
| Operating Cash | Payroll, vendors, utilities, and near-term obligations | Immediate to 12 months |
| Operating Reserve | Continuity during disruption, revenue delay, or emergency | Short to intermediate |
| Capital Reserve | Facilities, technology, equipment, maintenance, and replacement | Intermediate |
| Restricted Funds | Donor, grant, legal, or program-specific purposes | Based on restriction |
| Long-Term or Endowment Pool | Permanent or multi-generational mission support | Long term |
Investment Objectives
Investment objectives should reflect the purpose, liquidity needs, legal restrictions, expected withdrawals, inflation risk, and acceptable volatility of each pool.
- Preserve capital needed for committed obligations
- Generate reasonable income consistent with risk limits
- Protect purchasing power over long periods where appropriate
- Maintain liquidity for expected and emergency needs
- Avoid dependence on speculative returns to fund core operations
Permitted Investments
Subject to board-approved limits, permitted investments may include:
- Insured bank deposits and approved cash-management accounts
- United States Treasury bills, notes, bonds, and related government obligations
- High-quality money market funds
- Certificates of deposit within approved credit and insurance limits
- Investment-grade fixed-income securities
- Diversified public equity or bond funds for long-term pools
- Other board-approved investments supported by documented due diligence
United States Treasury Securities
Treasury securities may serve as a principal-preservation, liquidity, income, and maturity-management tool. The Institute may use a ladder of maturities to align cash availability with planned obligations.
Treasury concentration should still be reviewed for duration risk, reinvestment risk, liquidity timing, custody, settlement, and the difference between holding to maturity and selling before maturity.
No investment should be described as entirely risk-free. Even high-quality government securities may experience market-value changes, inflation loss, timing constraints, and operational or custody risk.
Prohibited or Restricted Practices
Unless specifically authorized through a documented, board-approved strategy with qualified advice, the Institute should avoid:
- Borrowing to speculate or amplify investment returns
- Undocumented private placements or related-party investments
- Uncovered derivatives, short selling, or concentrated options strategies
- Direct commodity speculation
- Uncustodied digital assets or unregulated trading platforms
- Investments that create unlawful private benefit or material conflicts
- Assets the Institute cannot independently value, audit, or exit responsibly
Spending and Distribution Policy
Spending from long-term funds should balance current mission needs with preservation of purchasing power and future institutional capacity.
A final policy may use a percentage of average market value, actual income, a hybrid formula, or another board-approved method. The Board may reduce distributions during periods of stress, major capital need, or weak investment performance.
Operating and Capital Reserves
Reserve targets should reflect payroll, insurance, utilities, technology, debt, maintenance, grant timing, emergency response, and other recurring obligations.
Use of reserves should be authorized, documented, and accompanied by a plan to restore the reserve when practical.
Performance Monitoring and Reporting
Investment reports should show market value, cash flow, income, fees, allocation, maturity, benchmark performance, compliance, liquidity, realized and unrealized gains or losses, and material risks.
Performance should be evaluated over an appropriate period and not based solely on short-term market movement.
Conflicts, Fees, and Service Providers
Trustees, officers, staff, advisors, custodians, managers, and vendors should disclose financial interests, referral arrangements, commissions, revenue sharing, gifts, and other relationships connected to investment decisions.
Fees should be transparent and evaluated against services, performance, risk, custody, reporting quality, and available alternatives.
Framework date: July 2026
Oversight Cycle
Policy, custody, reporting, and review should remain separate enough to protect accountability.
- Board approval. Approve objectives, limits, delegation, spending, and reserve standards.
- Qualified implementation. Use capable custodians, managers, banks, advisors, and internal financial personnel.
- Independent records. Reconcile investment statements to the accounting system and preserve source documents.
- Regular review. Examine allocation, performance, liquidity, risk, fees, and policy compliance.
- Corrective action. Rebalance, change providers, reduce risk, preserve liquidity, or revise policy when conditions require it.
Investment & Reserve Questions
Contact the Institute about policy, reporting, restricted funds, reserves, or investment governance.
Investment inquiries should identify the fund, restriction, transaction, provider, report, conflict, liquidity need, or governance concern involved.
Submit a Financial Governance Inquiry
Use the Institute’s contact process for policy questions, donor restrictions, investment reporting, reserve use, conflicts, or suspected noncompliance.
Contact the Institute