Form 990Form 990 is the informational "tax return" filed with the IRS by organizations that are exempt from federal income tax.
Form 990-TThe Form 990-T is the IRS’ Exempt Organization Business Income Tax Return. It is required to be filed by any exempt organization that has unrelated business income, which may be generated by assets gifted to the Foundation or from certain activities deemed to be unrelated to the Foundation’s exempt purpose. GCF also makes its Form 990-T available for public inspection.
Audited Financial StatementsThe Foundation publishes an abbreviated financial statement in its printed annual report. A complete audit report for the most recent year is available here.
GCF has recently restructured its overall investment strategy to improve investment offerings to our donors. Our Investments Committee, aided by national investment advisory firm Fund Evaluation Group, designed an enhanced program that offers donors the choice of three strategies:
1. GCF Long-Term Endowment Strategy (note 1)
This portfolio is comprised of equity, fixed income and real asset investments, as well as alternative investments (hedge funds, private equity, etc.). This strategy employs highly qualified managers vetted and selected by the GCF Investment Committee with the assistance of Fund Evaluation Group.
2. GCF Classic Investment Strategy (note 2)
This portfolio is the same as the Long-Term Endowment Strategy except that it excludes alternative investments (hedge funds, private equity, etc.). Highly qualified managers are vetted and selected by the GCF Investment Committee with the assistance of Fund Evaluation Group.
3. Cincinnati-Based Alliance Manager Program
This strategy allows donors to select a well established local investment firm to manage fund assets. Each of the five local firms below manages balanced portfolios (excluding alternative investments) and have its own distinct investment style:
- Bartlett & Co.
- Bahl & Gaynor
- Johnson Investment Counsel
- RiverPoint Capital
- UBS (Fitzgerald, Torbeck and Bolt Group)
All of the above investment options are balanced, which means that they have varying allocations of equity, fixed income, and in some cases real asset securities / funds. While GCF takes pride in its stewardship over invested assets, it should be noted that GCF is a charitable organization and not a commercial money manager. Our experienced Investments Committee, together with Fund Evaluation Group, regularly monitors the investment performance of our managers.
About GCF’s Long-Term Endowment and Classic Investment Strategies
GCF’s Long-Term Endowment and Classic Investment strategies include globally diversified portfolios with varying degrees of uncorrelated risk and returns among various asset classes. These globally diversified portfolios should reduce the variability of returns over time. Each asset class includes qualified managers that specialize within that class. These managers have been recommended to our Investments Committee by our consultant, Fund Evaluation Group.
Notes:
1. GCF has three partner firms with portfolios that include alternative investments (hedge funds, private equity, etc.): Fifth Third Bank, U.S. Bank and PNC Bank.
2. GCF has 14 partner firms with portfolios that exclude alternative investments (hedge funds, private equity, etc.): Baird & Company, Principled Wealth Advisors, Financial Management Group, Foster & Motley, Huntington Bank, Key Bank, Lenox Wealth Management, MCF Advisors, Northside Bank, Ritter Daniher, Truepoint Capital, UBS – The Ellis Group, Wells Fargo – Downtown Office, Wells Fargo – Anderson Office.
Investment performance by strategy will be updated and posted below quarterly.
The investment restructuring described above was a major change and, as such, GCF’s investment performance history has “re-started.” Any past performance numbers would not be appropriately comparable to the strategies now in place. Investment fees are included in the overview document for download below. Information on GCF's Service Fees is
available here.