Dr. Barton on Managing Endowments

You know, managing endowments are a very important role for Boards of Trustees. And I think one of the mistakes I often see made is to bring in, you know, Fund Manager A...and Fund Manager B...and Fund Manager C who have different styles, and decide who to use, and divide it up among different managers. I've always been of the view that when it comes to managing endowments you really need to approach more of a fund-to-funds approach where you basically hire someone who is an expert in managing fund managers, and they pick a portfolio--an asset-allocated portfolio of different managers--the best of the best that can help you allocate your endowment to various managers. And they take the time and they have the expertise to manage those various fund managers. And I really discourage Boards of Trustees or their investment committees from being engaged at that level, because, quite frankly, it's very time-consuming, and unless you have a really big endowment and a lot of very professional investment people on your investment committee, I found it usually causes more problems than it solves.