Calumet Educational Foundation
Investment Policy Statement

Introduction

Over the years, Le Club Calumet Educational and Literary Foundation, Inc. (the “Foundation”) has accumulated funds for investment. The purpose of this Investment Plan is to establish policy, guidelines, and objectives for management of these funds. It provides those charged with overseeing the funds – the Finance Committee of the Foundation and the Fund Manager(s) – with written instructions as to what the Foundation feels is appropriate and any other specific limitations placed on the managers of the funds. This plan is intended to set forth the Foundation’s vision of portfolio management, specific enough to be meaningful, and yet flexible enough to be practical.

Prior to 1991, the Foundation funds were primarily invested in Certificates of Deposit at local banking institutions at the direction of the Finance Committee. After considerable debate among the Trustees, the funds were entrusted to a private money Manager, with strict instructions concerning investment in safe fixed income securities. In 1996, again after considerable debate, the Trustees voted to change the policy to allow equities in order to add growth to the funds. Given this predisposition towards conservative investing, the implicit overall goal of the Foundation is to have quality growth of capital while providing distributions for scholarships and grants.

Policy

The investable funds of the Foundation shall be maintained, to the extent feasible, in one Portfolio under the day-to-day control of a single investment management company (“Fund Managers”). The Fund Managers shall provide periodic written reports to the Finance Committee not less than quarterly, provide oral reports to the Finance Committee at least twice a year, and report to the Trustees at their Annual Meeting.

The Finance Committee, acting as the investment committee, will review the progress of the Portfolio on a regular basis, conduct a more comprehensive review of the Portfolio and how it is managed at least annually, and present their findings to the Trustees for annual approval of the Managers and their Report.

The overall investment direction is to maximize the return consistent with the risks that the Foundation is willing to accept as stated herein. The Fund Managers will be given full discretion in managing the funds within this policy and are required to comply with all applicable laws, rules and regulations.

Investment Objectives

The Foundation seeks long term growth to serve its ongoing needs – giving increasing amounts of Scholarships and financial Grants to present students while building growth to benefit future students. Risk tolerance is conservative to moderate growth as guided by the parameters set forth herein and given the expected distributional needs.

Investment Guidelines

Choice of investments. The Fund Managers shall have full discretion, subject to constraints set forth herein, and prudent diversification, to allocate the assets of the fund among those securities publicly available and considered to be of investment grade.

Asset allocation shall generally follow these guidelines:

The Foundation recognizes that there may come a time when a donor places investment restrictions on a given contribution to the Foundation. Should that occur, the Finance Committee shall alert the Fund Managers and the Fund Managers shall separate the funds so restricted and manage them separately in accordance with such restrictions. As of the revision date indicated below, no funds in the Portfolio are subject to any such investment restrictions.

The Portfolio shall be a mix of Equities and Fixed Income Securities with the goal of having 60% of the Portfolio, by market value, in Equities and 40% of the Portfolio, by market value, in Fixed Income Securities. Given the ever changing nature of investments and the need to be flexible, this 60/40 split is subject to change if a perceived need arises. The Finance Committee shall have the authority to make such changes to this mix with the consent of the Executive Committee of the Foundation. All such chances shall be reported to the Trustees at their next regular meeting and must also be approved at their convenience.

Fixed Income Securities may consist of Corporate Bonds and Mutual (Bond) Funds as well as government, agencies, and quasi-government bonds so long as the instrument is rated by Standard and Poors at single A or better. No more than a third of the Portfolio shall be in Corporate bonds. The majority of the Fixed Income investments should be dictated by the source of the investment with neither all long term nor all short term, but with an appropriate distribution among the years.

Convertible and Preferred Stock shall be classified as “Fixed Income” securities rather than being considered part of the “Equity” portion of the Portfolio.

Equities in the Portfolio shall be of investment grade, comparable in risk tolerance to the Fixed Income Securities. No more than 5% of the total fair market value of the Portfolio shall be in any one company without the expressed consent of the Finance Committee.

Other investment vehicles may be considered if they are of comparable risk tolerance and approved by the Finance Committee, aforesaid. However, the Fund Managers shall not engage in Commodity trading (including all futures contracts), Short selling, Option trading, or other investments with similar risks.

Additions to Principal and Distributions

Additions to Principal. All contributions to the Foundation shall be considered funds entrusted for the purposes of the Foundation. Towards that end, all contributions shall be added to the principal of the Portfolio. Likewise, all income not distributed in accordance with these guidelines shall, at the direction of the Treasurer, be added to the principal of the Portfolio and invested in accordance with this Policy.

Distributions. The Foundation will request distributions of income in accordance with policies adopted by the Trustees. The anticipated annual amount requested shall be 5% of the average year end market value of the Portfolio for the past five years. Approximately one fifth should be available in August for Scholarships; the balance should be available in December for Grants.