About the Fund

Established on March 31, 2010, the Easton Episcopal Fund of the Diocese of Easton is an investment fund available to parishes and other diocesan entities. Under the direction of the Board of Managers this fund provides carefully-managed, cost-efficient and risk-controlled investment that allows its investors to focus on their primary missions of worship, outreach, and maintenance of the parish and the diocese.

The objective of the Balanced Fund is to generate a total return (interest, dividends and price appreciation) over a three-year time period that is greater than the expected Constant Rate of Return draw rate as determined by the Board of Managers (5.25% for 2021) plus inflation as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI). To achieve this expected return, we will build a portfolio around our benchmark, which is a synthetic index composed of a 52% weighting of the U.S. Russell 3000 Index, a 13% weighting of the International MSCI ACWI ex US Index, and a 35% weighting of the Barclays U.S. Government/Credit Intermediate Bond Index.

The Board of Managers (BOM) with the help of advisors will determine allocations between:
– equities, bonds, alternatives, and cash,
– domestic and foreign securities,
– large, mid-sized, and small companies,
– different types of fixed income securities,
– and different types of alternative investments.

The Board of Managers may engage independent active investment advisers to implement the strategies articulated by the BOM or may choose to implement the strategies themselves by identifying mutual funds or exchange traded funds that have characteristics similar to the strategies identified by the BOM. Performance of each manager or strategy will be measured against a unique benchmark reflecting that strategy as well as synthetic index for equity managers and strategies consisting of 80% Russell 3000 Index and 20% MSCI ACWI ex US. We believe a reasonable goal is to generate returns that would put the Easton Episcopal Balanced Fund in the top third of the competitive universe over rolling three year time periods.