University of Wisconsin Foundation

Generated outreach message alignment report
1. You allocate to external managers and seek deep, collaborative partnerships with them.
An entrepreneurial, owner-managed hedge fund can offer a direct, high-touch partnership with access to best ideas and capacity discipline, aligning with your preference for close manager relationships.
Evidence
“We continue to build collaborative, two-way relationships with top-tier investment managers with whom we explore compelling investment opportunities from around the world.” “we have remained disciplined in our commitment to cultivating deep partnerships.” “*Net of external manager fees”
2. You maintain a large global equity allocation and benchmark globally (MSCI ACWI), indicating openness to international/EM exposure.
A concentrated, high-conviction global strategy with EM capability can complement your global equity sleeve and provide differentiated alpha versus broad global indices.
Evidence
“54.6% GLOBAL EQUITY 30.9% PRIVATE CAPITAL 11.6% REAL ASSETS 2.9% CASH/ FIXED INCOME” “MSCI All Country World Investable Market Index returning +15.9 percent and the S&P 500 returning +15.2 percent.” “The portfolio is diversified across global asset classes and managed by our top- tier financial experts.”
3. You emphasize stock selection as a key driver of returns.
A concentrated best-ideas hedge fund is purpose-built for security selection alpha, offering a low-correlation, high-conviction complement to core beta exposures.
Evidence
“Our strong investment performance was driven by stock selection in public and private markets.”
4. You target long-term performance of 6–9% over full market cycles and de-emphasize one-year results.
A manager with a long track record and cycle-tested process can align with your horizon and return target, prioritizing durable compounding over short-term noise.
Evidence
“WISIMCO and members of the board’s investment committee regularly review the pool’s performance, with a long-term goal of achieving a 6 to 9 percent annualized return over a complete market cycle (typically a five- to 10-year period).” “Given our long-term investment horizon, fiscal year returns are important, but we put a greater emphasis on long-term performance.”
5. You explicitly value outperformance versus policy and blended benchmarks.
A differentiated, low-correlation strategy focused on alpha generation can help add excess return on a net-of-fee basis relative to your policy and 70/30 benchmarks.
Evidence
“outperforming our policy benchmark by 360 bps and the 70/30 global stock/bond blended benchmark by 230 bps.”
6. You are attentive to fees and assess results net of manager costs.
A boutique, owner-managed fund with aligned incentives and capacity discipline can deliver net-of-fees alpha and be flexible on structure to fit your cost-aware framework.
Evidence
“WFAA’s institutional advancement fee (IAF), charged to endowment funds, was reduced from 100 basis points (bps) to 90 bps.” “*Net of external manager fees”
7. Your 4.5% spending rule based on a 20‑quarter average underscores the need for durable, repeatable return streams.
A low-correlation, high-conviction strategy that manages drawdowns can help support stable endowment payouts while complementing existing equity and private allocations.
Evidence
“The spending policy currently distributes 4.5 percent of the endowment’s average market value over the previous 20 quarters.”