From Your trusted partner in Nonprofit Investment management.

Portfolio Stewardship Audit

A free, objective checkup for your foundation, endowment, or long-term investments to fulfil your board governance responsibilities
Board members discussing Board Governance Best Practices

Get a board-ready report on your Investment Fees, Board Governance, and UPMIFA alignment—without a months-long project or a sales pitch.

What is the Portfolio Stewardship Audit (PSA)?

The PSA is a concise, nonprofit-specific assessment that benchmarks your current fees, allocation, spending policy, and board governance against UPMIFA best practices and your peers. You’ll receive a scorecard and a short action plan that you can take straight to your board.

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Portfolio Stewardship Audit Sample Report Download

What it covers (UPMIFA Compliance)

  • Investment Fees & Hidden Portfolio Expenses
  • Current Asset Allocation & Risk compared to your IPS
  • Portfolio Liquidity compared to Spending Needs
  • Investment Policy Statement & Spending Policy
  • Board Governance Best Practices and UPMIFA Compliance

What you’ll walk away with

  • PSA Scorecard showing strengths and weaknesses at a glance
  • Key Findings memo, providing a deeper look into each Scorecard section
  • Board slide(s): 1–2 slides summarizing results for the next meeting
  • A 30-minute debrief to walk you through the findings and answer any additional questions

How it Works (and improves Board Governance!)

  1. Tell us about your organization – complete the short survey
  2. Upload your docs – IPS, fee schedule, recent statement
  3. We benchmark & score – fees, allocation, spending, board governance
  4. You get your deliverables – scorecard, key findings, board slides
  5. Optional debrief – 30-minute walkthrough with Q&A

What the PSA is NOT

  • Not a replacement for your auditor or legal counsel
  • Not a months-long consulting engagement
  • Not a sales pitch disguised as “analysis”

It’s a quick, independent diagnostic to support fiduciary decision-making.

PSA Time Commitment

We understand you’re busy. Nonprofits are chronically understaffed and you’re likely wearing multiple hats. We designed the audit process to provide as much value possible, with the least time investment.

Most organizations complete the intake in less than 20 minutes.

  • Online Intake Survey – 10-12 minutes to complete approximately 30 questions
  • Document Upload – Upload a copy of your most recent investment statement, IPS, and your advisor’s fee schedule, if available

That’s it. We pull most data necessary from the documents that you upload. Our questionnaire only covers the questions we can’t answer from your documents.

Who it’s for

The PSA is built for Executive Directors, Presidents / CEOs, CFOs / Controllers, Treasurers, and Board Chairs at small-to-mid sized nonprofits—particularly those with $1–$25M across endowments, long-term investments, and quasi-endowments.

Common questions we answer

  • “Are our fees too high for our portfolio?”
  • “Are we documenting everything necessary to meet our compliance obligation under UPMIFA?”
  • “Is our portfolio too risky?”
  • “What should we simplify before our next audit or board cycle?”

If you’ve had turnover on the committee, are preparing for a spending review, or haven’t looked at fees in a few years, the PSA gives you a fast, objective starting point.

Frequently Asked Questions

Will this create a lot of work for my team?
No. Expect ~15–20 minutes total: a short survey plus a quick doc upload. We handle the benchmarking and produce board-ready outputs.

What is the cost for the PSA?
There is absolutely no cost for the PSA. Our goal is to educate nonprofits and build partnerships.

What documents do you need?
Your Investment Policy Statement, most recent monthly/quarterly statement, and any fee schedules/OCAs you have on file. If something’s missing, we can still proceed.

How do you benchmark fees and spending?
We compare your disclosed fees and spending rate to ranges we see in similarly sized nonprofit portfolios and to widely used nonprofit best-practice bands. Where applicable, we identify potential hidden layers (e.g., manager and platform fees).

Is the PSA compliant with UPMIFA expectations?
UPMIFA requires prudent processes and documentation. The PSA isn’t legal advice, but it helps boards demonstrate prudence by reviewing fees, risks, liquidity, diversification, and spending in a structured way.

Can we share the PSA with our investment advisor or auditor?
Absolutely. Many clients use the PSA to frame a productive conversation with their current advisor and to prep for audit or annual committee reviews.

How fast will we receive results?
After you submit the survey and documents, we turn around your scorecard and materials promptly so you can make your next agenda. Turnaround time is typically under one week.

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