n the summer of 2016, the Jewish Foundation of Greater New Haven Board of Trustees, following a recommendation of the Foundation’s Investment Committee, approved a RFP process (Request for Proposal) for a new investment advisor/consultant for the Foundation. The Board also hired InHub Consulting of Chicago to assist with the RFP process and a RFP subcommittee was formed. In December of 2016 SCS Financial was approved as the new Investment Advisor for the Jewish Foundation.
“The growth of the Foundation over the last few years warranted a review of the current consultative process. We recommended a RFP process as part of our due diligence as fiduciaries and because we wanted to explore options. One of the goals of the RFP process was to determine if it was appropriate to have both tactical and strategic in one consultant, “ stated Stephen August, Investment Chair of the Jewish Foundation.
For over 18 years, Prime Buchholz had served as the Investment Consultant for the Jewish Foundation. The process began with a RFI (Request for Information) which was submitted to numerous firms and publicized through financial outlets. Eighteen firms submitted RFIs. The submissions came from firms which ranged from large national to small boutiques and included consultants, outsourced chief investment officer models, as well as hybrids. From the 18 firms which submitted RFIs, the subcommittee recommended 9 candidates who were then invited to submit full proposals. Those 9 candidates were SCS Financial, Prime Buchholz (which was the Foundation’s current investment consultant), Colonial Consulting, Meketa Group, DiMeo Schneider, Fiduciary Investment Advisors, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, and Segal Rogerscasey. After full review of the 9 proposals as well as supporting documentation, the subcommittee then recommended that 4 of the 9 candidates be interviewed in person and invited to make an in-person presentation, those 4 candidates were SCS Financial, Prime Buchholz, Colonial Consulting, and Meketa Group. Following the in-person presentations by the 4 finalists, SCS Financial was recommended by the subcommittee to the Foundation Investment Committee which approved the recommendation and in turn made the same recommendation to the Foundation Board of Trustees which approved SCS Financial as the new investment advisor for the Jewish Foundation of Greater New Haven.
“ The analysis was that SCS was very flexible in both of these areas. They have unique models that offer broad exposure to new sectors at lower cost and commitment. In addition, their communication and response were analytical and timely, “ continued Steve August.
Founded in 2002, SCS Financial is one of America’s leading independent investment and wealth management firms with offices in Boston and New York. SCS currently supervises approximately $17 billion in investment assets on behalf of 140 clients. SCS’ client base is diverse, encompassing endowments, foundations, ultra-high net worth individuals, family offices, sovereign wealth funds, and insurance companies.Over the next several months SCS will be working with the investment committee to execute a new Investment Policy Statement and transition the portfolio to an agreed upon asset allocation.