Opening the conversation: long view and immediate needs

• What is the single most important financial outcome your board expects from the endowment over the next 10 years? Options: Protect purchasing power after spending and inflation, Deliver a specific real return target, Provide predictable distributions to operations, Grow corpus for future priorities, Other
• How does your current spending policy determine annual distributions and the buffer you keep for market stress? Options: Fixed percentage of market value, Rolling average formula (3-5 year), Inflation-adjusted target, Board sets distributions annually, Hybrid or other
• Tell me about a recent year when liquidity pressure forced you to change allocations or delay planned spending, what happened and who owned the decision?
• Who on your committee leads spending policy reviews and communicates changes to trustees? Options: CIO or Head of Investments, Investment Committee Chair, Board Treasurer, CFO, External consultant, Other
• Which asset classes do you treat as permanent endowment versus near-term liquidity? Options: Public equities and fixed income for liquidity, Private equity and real assets for permanence, A mix depending on target allocation, Undecided/not documented, Other

Where the current approach breaks, and what that costs

• If a single forecasting failure could make you change advisors, which failure would that be? Options: Underestimating private cash calls leading to forced sales, Overstating private valuations masking shortfalls, Missing liquidity for annual distributions, Failure to hit net-return target vs peers, Other
• Over the past five years, how often have private allocation cash flow shortfalls affected your spending plan? Options: Never, Once, Occasionally (2-3 years), Frequently (most years), I do not know
• When liquidity has been tight, who has made the emergency allocation or withdrawal decisions and how were those decisions recorded?
• What operational or reporting gaps have caused the most uncomfortable conversations with trustees in the last two years?
• Describe a time when valuation timing or private-market lag forced you to change a distribution schedule, what was the financial impact?

Which assumptions might be giving you false confidence

• Which assumption about private markets or diversification is most likely giving you false confidence today? Options: Private returns will be consistently higher than public markets, Vintage diversification alone will smooth cashflow, Manager access will remain available when needed, Fees will not materially affect net returns, Other
• Walk me through how you set your long-term return target and whether it explicitly covers the spending rate plus inflation
• Targeting what vintage-year span, in years, do you pursue for private allocations and why did you choose that horizon? Options: 1-2 years, 3-4 years, 5-7 years, 8+ years, No formal target
• Who sets guardrails on illiquidity limits and who must sign off on exceptions to those limits?
• If you tightened illiquidity guardrails by 25%, what program changes would follow and could you implement those changes inside one year? Options: Yes, can implement within 6 months, Yes, within 12 months, Would need >12 months, No, cannot implement

The other options you are weighing

• Name the alternative options you are weighing right now, including the incumbent and any internal-only plan.
• For each option, what specific strength makes your committee consider it seriously?
• Under which conditions would you keep your current provider rather than select a different partner? Options: Consistent outperformance vs peer benchmark, Superior access to top alternative managers, Lower net fees with same access, Clear improvement in reporting and governance support, Other
• Has anyone proposed solving this entirely with internal resources, who proposed it, and what timeline did they suggest?
• Select any of these options that are currently on the table for this engagement Options: Remain with incumbent advisor, Switch to another advisory firm, Internal-only solution, Consulting engagement only, Single-manager approach, No decision yet / exploring

Operational readiness and constraints that could gate onboarding

• Identify the system, document, or approval most likely to block onboarding inside 3 months Options: Custodian data access, Audited performance history, Board approval of new vendor, Legal or confidentiality agreement, Internal IT security approval, Other
• Do you have a named data owner who can deliver performance history and private cashflow data within four weeks? Options: Yes, named and available, Yes, but will need time, No, not yet identified, Not sure
• List the custodial, accounting, and reporting platforms that currently hold your portfolio records
• Name the people who will need to approve API access, file transfers, or data sharing agreements for onboarding
• Would the absence of audited performance and cashflow data for the past 24 months block a pilot or require a longer scoping phase? Options: Block a short pilot, Require extended scoping but pilot still possible, Not a blocker, Unsure

Governance, decision making, and stakeholder alignment

• Identify the governance role with final authority on material allocation changes that increase illiquidity Options: Investment Committee Chair, Full Board approval, Board Treasurer with committee recommendation, CIO with committee oversight, Other
• How often does the investment committee review spending policy relative to actual distributions and liquidity forecasts? Options: Quarterly, Biannually, Annually, Ad hoc as needed, Not regularly
• When was the last time your committee updated the spending policy, and what drove that change? Options: Within last 12 months, 12-36 months ago, More than 3 years ago, Never updated, I do not know
• List the specific deliverables you would expect an advisor to produce for your next committee meeting to build confidence Options: Performance vs peer benchmark, Private cashflow forecast, Scenario-driven portfolio projections, Manager due diligence summaries, Sample committee slide deck, Other
• Are there contractual, regulatory, or internal approval hurdles that would prevent immediate scale-up even if a pilot met targets? Who owns each hurdle?

Decision triggers, acceptance criteria, and next steps

• Describe the specific measurable outcome from a pilot that would be sufficient for you to sign within 30 days
• Select your target decision timeline if a pilot meets agreed metrics Options: Immediately / within 30 days, 30-60 days, 60-90 days, Within 6 months, No firm timeline
• Provide the names and roles required to sign commercial terms and describe the internal steps that follow signature
• Are there any deliverables from the typical scope that would be deal-breakers if omitted? Please list and prioritize them
• Do you have budget authority to commit to a multi-year advisory engagement within 90 days if the pilot meets targets? Options: Yes, authorized signer available, Yes, with internal approvals required, No, additional budget approval needed, Unsure

• Investment Solution Experience Session

• Provide three years of realized spending, current cash reserves, and your target spending policy for model inputs.
• Confirm the current state and its cost
• You confirm that the modeled scenarios surface the liquidity shortfalls you experience and quantify their operational and financial cost.
• You confirm that the demonstrated allocation and manager-access options can meet your long-term return target without increasing the risk of forced sales.
• Run two tailored portfolio scenarios (baseline and stress) using provided inputs and deliver a detailed cashflow forecast and manager-access summary before the next session.
• Run the baseline portfolio scenario
• Run the stress liquidity scenario
• You agree on the remaining evidence needed before a decision, including a tailored cashflow forecast, indicative fee estimate, and a committee presentation.
• Share the list of investment committee members and the decision timeline for the final review session.
• Prepare proposed allocation ranges and an indicative fee schedule tied to the scenarios for review at the follow-up meeting.
• Show allocation and manager-access trade-offs
• Review board-ready reporting and cashflow outputs
• Validate this maps to your needs

• Investment Solution Experience Session
• Investment Solution Experience Deck
• Solution Brief

• meeting
• slides
• document

• Implement Strategic Asset Allocation
• Construct Multi-Asset Portfolio Allocations
• Select and Onboard Private Equity Managers
• Select and Onboard Venture Capital Managers
• Select and Onboard Real Assets Managers
• Select and Onboard Hedge Fund Managers
• Secure Capacity-Constrained Alternative Allocations
• Negotiate Manager Fee Agreements
• Execute Portfolio Rebalancing and Trades
• Implement Liquidity Management for Spending Policy
• Provide Private Investment Cashflow Forecasts
• Produce Performance Attribution vs Endowment Peers
• Prepare Investment Committee Presentation Materials
• Manage Capital Call and Distribution Processing

Implement Strategic Asset Allocation

• Specify the target allocation ranges for equities, fixed income, and alternatives to include in your Investment Policy Statement (IPS).
• Indicate the real return objective you want the strategic plan to aim for (for example CPI plus 3% or an absolute nominal return). Options: CPI + 2%, CPI + 3%, CPI + 4%, Absolute nominal target
• Identify who on your investment committee must sign off on the final strategic allocation and what approval evidence you require (meeting minutes, formal vote record, or written sign-off). Options: Meeting minutes, Formal vote record, Written sign-off, Other
• How should target allocation ranges differ by liquidity profile (for example separate targets for liquid public sleeve vs illiquid private commitments)? Options: Separate targets by liquidity bucket, Single blended target, Hybrid (public % floor + private %)
• Define the glide path or rebalancing tolerance bands you prefer (for example +/- 3% absolute, +/- 5% absolute). Options: +/- 2%, +/- 3%, +/- 5%, Custom
• List the endowment peer universe or CPI series to use when evaluating strategic allocation performance in governance reports (for example NACUBO peer set, CPI-U). Options: NACUBO peer group, Custom peer list, CPI-U, CPI-W, Other

Construct Multi-Asset Portfolio Allocations

• List the asset-class bands to include in multi-asset modeling (public equity, private equity, venture, real assets, hedge funds, fixed income). Options: Public Equity, Private Equity, Venture Capital, Real Assets, Hedge Funds, Fixed Income
• Specify the scenario horizons to run for portfolio stress and return simulations tied to your spending policy (for example 3, 5, 10 years). Options: 3 years, 5 years, 10 years, Custom
• Indicate whether you require separate domestic and international public equity sleeves and provide the desired split if applicable. Options: Yes - specify split, No - single global equity sleeve
• Estimate the portion of the portfolio that should be held as liquidity-constrained allocation for a 12-month distribution horizon (percentage of AUM). Options: 0-3%, 3-6%, 6-12%, 12%+
• Select the rebalancing trigger you prefer across the multi-asset portfolio (time-based quarterly, threshold-based, or hybrid). Options: Quarterly time-based, Threshold-based, Hybrid
• Name the owner of model inputs for forecasted returns and volatility and indicate where the source data is maintained (for example internal model spreadsheet, external modeling provider). Options: CIO office, Outsourced CIO, External research vendor, Hybrid

Select and Onboard Private Equity Managers

• Provide preferred private equity vehicle types for commitments referenced in your IPS (primary fund, co-investment, secondary purchase). Options: Primary fund, Co-investment, Secondary, All of the above
• Define the vintage-year diversification plan you want for private equity (number of vintage cohorts and annual commitment pacing). Options: Commit annually across 3+ vintages, Concentrated over 1-2 years, Custom pacing
• State manager size and performance minimums required for consideration (minimum AUM, minimum DPI or TVPI thresholds). Options: Min AUM: <$500m, Min AUM: $500m-$1bn, Min AUM: >$1bn, Specify performance thresholds separately
• Identify the operations or legal reviewer for limited partner agreements and acceptable turnaround time for completing onboarding steps. Options: Internal legal, External counsel, Operations team, Other
• What documented acceptance criteria will confirm a private equity manager is fully onboarded (for example executed LP agreement, bank wiring instructions verified, reporting template accepted)?
• Provide the custodian and accounting system details that private fund cashflows and NAVs must integrate with, including your general ledger code format.

Select and Onboard Venture Capital Managers

• Provide a prioritized list of venture capital strategies to emphasize (early-stage, growth-stage, sector-focused, geography) and target allocation percentages.
• Describe the minimum co-investment or follow-on allocation policy you expect venture managers to offer. Options: Co-invests required, Co-invests optional, No co-invest policy
• Confirm whether you accept quarterly reporting with a 45-day lag for VC funds or require accelerated monthly/near-real-time reporting. Options: Quarterly with lag acceptable, Require accelerated reporting, Hybrid depending on manager
• Name the approver and the evidence you require (prior fund returns, reference checks, GP bios) when evaluating first-time general partners.
• State the annual commitment budget range to model for venture allocations to meet vintage diversification goals. Options: <$5m, $5m-$25m, $25m-$100m, $100m+
• Provide the operational due-diligence documents you require before closing on a VC manager (audited financials, compliance policies, cybersecurity attestations).

Select and Onboard Real Assets Managers

• Provide target real assets sub-classes to include and the target weightings (timber, infrastructure, energy, farmland, core real estate, opportunistic real estate).
• Describe the liquidity profile you expect for real assets relative to spending needs (for example core illiquid, core-plus with limited liquidity, or liquid REIT exposure). Options: Core illiquid, Core-plus, Opportunistic liquid REITs, Hybrid
• State any environmental, social, and governance constraints or impact targets to apply during real assets manager selection (for example exclude coal, net-zero target).
• Who will approve real assets capital deployment and what specific investment committee materials must accompany those approvals?
• Outline lease and revenue stress scenarios to model for real estate income under your spending policy horizon (for example 20% vacancy shock, 25% rent deferral).
• Detail the property-level integration points required for monthly reporting (financial model, rent roll, lease abstracts) and the expected file format. Options: Excel rent roll, PDF lease abstracts, API integration, Other

Select and Onboard Hedge Fund Managers

• Outline acceptable hedge fund strategies within your risk budget (for example long/short equity, global macro, event driven, relative value).
• Provide the target return metric for hedge allocations versus cash and peer groups that you expect (for example 3% over cash, peer median).
• Indicate any liquidity constraints that would rule out certain hedge strategies (for example monthly/quarterly gates not acceptable). Options: Gates acceptable, Gates not acceptable, Conditional
• Specify which contractual terms are non-negotiable for hedge managers (for example redemption notice, transparency of side letters).
• Who will perform ongoing performance and operational monitoring for hedge funds and what monitoring frequency do you require (monthly, quarterly)? Options: Internal team monthly, Internal team quarterly, Outsourced monitoring, Hybrid
• Name any custodian or prime-broker connectivity requirements necessary to support the hedge strategies you plan to employ.

Secure Capacity-Constrained Alternative Allocations

• Prioritize the capacity-constrained allocations you consider highest priority to secure (for example top-quartile private managers, specific co-investment slots).
• Describe the commitment timing flexibility you can offer to capture constrained allocations (firm annual budget, opportunistic reserves, multi-year commitments). Options: Firm annual budget, Opportunistic reserves, Multi-year commitment
• Indicate whether you are willing to pursue secondaries or pay a fee premium to access scarce capacity. Options: Yes - willing for secondaries, Yes - willing to accept fee premium, No
• Who will be delegated to negotiate placement terms and do you permit engagement with external placement agents? Options: CIO office, Delegated committee member, External placement agent allowed, No external agents
• What maximum fee uplift or carried interest tier (bps or percentage) is acceptable to you for accessing top-quartile constrained allocations? Options: No uplift, Up to 25 bps, Up to 50 bps, Custom
• Which deliverable will validate successful allocation capture (for example signed subscription agreement, commitment confirmation, wire receipt)? Options: Signed subscription agreement, Commitment confirmation email, Wire receipt, Other

Negotiate Manager Fee Agreements

• State the target total expense ratio or fee cap you expect across manager types (management fee plus carried interest expressed as bps or %).
• Describe whether you prefer waterfalls with hurdle rates, catch-up provisions, or tiered carry for private fund structures. Options: Hurdle + Catch-up, Straight carry, Tiered carry, Custom
• List the fee benchmarks or market references you want used in negotiations (for example peer median for similar vintage/strategy).
• Who is authorized to sign fee amendments and what internal approvals are required to finalize fee changes?
• Are fee concessions in side letters or enhanced reporting privileges required as part of fee negotiations? Options: Require side-letter concessions, Require reporting privileges, Neither required
• Identify the documentation you need to finalize fee agreements (for example redlined limited partnership agreement, signed amendment, invoice schedule).

Execute Portfolio Rebalancing and Trades

• Define the rebalancing frequency and tolerance bands that should govern trade execution against the strategic allocation (for example monthly with +/-3% bands). Options: Daily, Monthly, Quarterly, Custom
• State the custodial trading workflows and settlement cutoffs that must be observed for public market trades (for example T+2 settlement constraints, custodian cut-off times).
• Who should approve rebalancing transactions above your specified threshold and what is that threshold (percent of portfolio or dollar amount)?
• Would you like pre-trade compliance checks enforced for concentration limits, single-manager exposure caps, and restricted securities? Options: Yes, No
• Identify the execution quality metrics you want tracked for public trades (for example implementation shortfall, volume-weighted average price). Options: Implementation shortfall, VWAP, Best execution report, Other
• Detail settlement accounting mapping required to reconcile trades to your general ledger structure (GL codes, tax lot conventions).

Implement Liquidity Management for Spending Policy

• What is your annual distribution amount and how many months of distributions should the liquidity buffer cover (for example 3, 6, 12 months)? Options: 3 months, 6 months, 12 months, Other
• Indicate which liquid asset buckets are acceptable to meet near-term spending (cash, treasury bills, short-duration credit, liquid alternatives). Options: Cash, Treasury bills, Short-duration credit, Liquid alternatives
• Describe whether you prefer a dedicated cash sleeve with a minimum target balance or a dynamic liquidity source drawn from public allocations. Options: Dedicated cash sleeve, Dynamic draw from public allocation, Hybrid
• Who will own monthly cashflow forecasting and in which format must forecasts be delivered (for example spreadsheet model, API feed to treasury system)?
• Specify the authorized thresholds that should trigger de-risking sales to protect liquidity (for example drawdown percentage or market-stress indicator levels).
• List the custodian or bank accounts to be used for liquidity buffers and indicate any signatory or dual-control rules that apply.

• Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA)
• Master Services Agreement (MSA)
• Statement of Work (SOW)
• Fee Schedule & Order Form
• Onboarding & Transition Plan
• Custody and Trading Authorization
• Data Processing Agreement (DPA)
• Regulatory & Compliance Addendum (conditioned)

• Go-live Health Check (weeks 1-4)
• First Performance Measurement (weeks 4-10)
• Acceptance Gate Review (around day 90)
• Quarterly Performance and Governance Review

• Update the enhancement request register with prioritization and delivery timelines for the next two quarters.
• Correct and republish any reporting data quality issues that would affect the acceptance gate measurement.
• Restate acceptance criteria and numeric targets
• Documented pass or fail per acceptance criterion recorded in Program Scope & Deliverables.
• Signed acceptance decision captured or a time-bound remediation plan agreed for any unmet criteria.
• Clear verification steps and dates defined to close any conditional items before final acceptance.
• Publish the acceptance decision record referencing the Program Scope & Deliverables criteria and attach supporting evidence.
• List remediation tasks for any failed or conditional criteria with target dates and verification checkpoints.
• Schedule a follow-up verification meeting if any criteria are conditional, timed to the remediation completion dates.
• Quarterly performance vs targets and peers
• Confirm rolling 12-month net return relative to the target long-term return and the peer benchmark percentile are within agreed ranges or document corrective steps.
• Validate liquidity buffer measured in months of covered spending meets the threshold in Program Scope & Deliverables or agree actions to restore it.
• Ensure open issues and enhancement requests have owners, deadlines, and a clear path to closure before the next quarter.
• Publish the quarterly performance pack with peer benchmarking, liquidity projections, and a tracker of open items.
• Execute any agreed rebalancing or liquidity actions and record expected completion dates and verification steps.
• Re-confirm acceptance criteria and owners
• All deployment blockers are documented with remediation actions and target completion dates.
• Primary data feeds for performance, private cashflows, and liquidity are validated or have a clear remediation path.
• Owners confirmed for each acceptance criterion listed in Program Scope & Deliverables.
• Deliver a remediation tracker with each open issue, target completion date, and verification checklist.
• Produce a data validation snapshot of performance and cashflow feeds for the first measurement meeting.
• Confirm which investment committee materials will be used for the next review and circulate them in advance.
• Present first-period outcomes vs targets
• Confirm whether portfolio net return relative to the target long-term return and peer benchmark percentile are within acceptable tolerances.
• Validate that the liquidity buffer in months meets the threshold set in Program Scope & Deliverables or document required liquidity actions.
• Agree remediation actions for any data or performance gaps with dates for resolution and follow-up at the acceptance gate.
• Produce a one-page variance summary showing metric values, tolerances from Program Scope & Deliverables, and root-cause notes.
• Schedule and complete any required portfolio trades or liquidity adjustments needed to meet the agreed buffer target, and record expected completion dates.
• Present measured outcomes per criterion
• Liquidity and spending policy outcomes
• Deployment and data validation
• Diagnose variances
• Pass/fail determination and evidence review
• Early adoption and usage signals
• Governance and reporting health
• Operational issues affecting measurement
• Open issues and remediation plan
• Agree corrective actions and timeline
• Open issues, enhancement requests, and blocker burn-down
• Capture formal acceptance decision and signatory
• Agree checklist for first measurement
• Agree remediation plan for any failed or conditional criteria
• Meeting wrap and short list of quarter actions