What is Your Sense of Fiduciary Responsibility

We've been reading about Bernard Madoff for weeks. His actions have reverberated in many nonprofit organizations and institutions throughout the northeast. Some of them are large and many of them are small. The large ones have made the media; the s mall ones quietly take their disappointments and wonder how they are going to survive. The pains hurt everytime Benard Madoff is named in a newspaper article. The latest, yesterday, with Madoff's wife withdrawing 15 million reminds everyone of the losses that have occured. How have these losses challanged and changed how nonprofit organizations manage their investments? Did they have an investment policy in place? What limitations if any did it place on the investment committee or finance committee or the governing board? Does your organization have investments? Who manages them? Who provides the guidlines by which the portfolio is managed? If there isn't one, isn't it time that your organization had one? It is your board' responsibility to make sure a sound one is established and approved by a vote of the board. I suggest you speak with other nonprofits and find out if they have one. Well managed nonprofits do. "Well, what about Brandeis University", you say. Something went startingling wrong. I don't know the answer, but I do know that any organization that looked at Bernard Madoff's claim of performance and understands the market place would have known it was impossible for any fund to perform that way. Individuals amy invest based on friendships created at a country club, but treasurers always act conservatively, cautiously, and with due diligence all the time. Board members need to act the same way when it comes to finances. If you have any questions, please write to me at aclidckstein@strategicwise.com.