The $850 million Columbus Foundation in Ohio is conducting an asset review with the goal of making a maiden allocation to alternatives. The review will determine how much to invest and what types of alternatives to invest in, and it will also evaluate the fund's entire portfolio. It follows an investment committee overhaul that resulted in the replacement of all six incumbents due to the fund's underperformance. The fund wanted a committee composed of investment and financial professionals. Raymond Biddiscombe, v.p. of finance and administration, said the fund wants to invest in alternatives for "defensive purposes," because he has low expectations for equities and fixed income. "This has to be done in order to maintain the value of the endowment, rather than to boost returns," he said. "We will be following the direction that other foundations and endowments have taken by going into alternatives."

The new committee had its initial meeting at the beginning of January, when it discussed investing in alternatives, and will likely start the review after it meets in February. The foundation currently allocates 65% to equities and 35% to fixed income, and is advised by Fund Evaluation Group in Cincinnati.

Biddiscombe said the investment committee revamp came in response to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which prompted the foundation to review its audit committee. "We first called out our audit committee and then decided that we should go ahead and call out our investment committee," he said. "Our performance was not where it should be in comparison to other foundations of our size and we felt something had to be done. This is something that has been going on for a year and a half, but we just recently pulled the trigger on it." The foundation decided to recruit finance and investment professionals. "We wanted people who are doing this on a day-to-day basis, people who currently work at other large endowments or financial institutions, rather than people who are retired," he explained.