When the Horizon Foundation embarked on its new strategic plan in 2024, we committed to centering equity and anti-racism in all of our work. It was important for us not only to practice that in our programs, grantmaking and policy work, but also to ensure those values were embedded in the internal operations of the organization as well. That means putting our money where our mouth is – literally.
The Foundation does not take any donations or receive government grants to do its work – rather, our endowment is our primary source of revenue and sustainability. The Foundation began in 1998 with an initial gift of $67 million from the sale of Howard County General Hospital to Johns Hopkins Medicine. Since then, we have grown the endowment through investments to over $100 million while also contributing over $86 million to our community.
In our unique U.S. system of capitalism, the ability to have and generate wealth is overwhelmingly held by White individuals and White-led institutions. For example, Census data shows that White households own 80% of the wealth in America vs. 4.7% owned by Black families and 3.1% of Hispanic families[1]. Furthermore, that wealth is often managed by investment advisory firms that are overwhelmingly dominated by White men. A 2019 study by the Knight Foundation found that investment advisory firms owned by white men manage a stunning 98.7% of the $69 trillion managed by U.S. firms[2].
As we examined our internal practices, we knew that we needed to make changes to our investment strategy to make it more aligned with our values of promoting diversity, equity and inclusion and to consider additional ways that we could align our actual investments with those values. Throughout 2024, we conducted a nationwide search process for an investment advisory firm who was philosophically aligned with our mission and vision and would ensure our values are centered in our portfolio management. At the same time, we wanted to keep delivering positive returns to ensure the Foundation continues to be responsible stewards of the endowment in perpetuity. That process led us to the Disciplina Group.
Disciplina is a Black-owned and led investment firm with decades of experience working with foundations and other charitable institutions to deliver long-term financial goals through strategies that align with each organization’s mission. They have a record of outstanding performance for their clients that include other foundations and health care institutions such as the Community Foundation of Greater Atlanta, the National Urban League, the Georgia Health Initiative and others. They strive to not only make smart investments for their clients, but to in turn help their clients improve the communities they serve.
How does this work? “A holistic awareness and strategic approach encompassing a foundation’s values is the initial step, followed by deliberate steps applied to their investment strategy,” said Matthew Wright, President and Chief Investment Officer at Disciplina. Those steps include identifying two to three distinct values across the investment landscape, formally incorporating those values within the investment policy statement, establishing and monitoring metrics and partnering with an investment advisor that exemplifies and shares those same values.
For the Horizon Foundation, these steps mean fulfilling our five levers of values-aligned investing:
- Having an advisor who is authentically aligned with our values.
- Ensuring diverse fund managers are represented in our portfolio.
- Holdings contrary to our values are screened out of our portfolio to the extent possible. For example, our new investment policy statement limits investments in companies that we believe harm health (such as companies related to tobacco products, sugary beverages, alcohol, firearms, human rights violations, private prisons, etc.).
- Portfolio tilts towards holdings that represent our values.
- Assets are deployed to invest for community impact.
We are proud that our endowment fully transitioned to Disciplina’s management in 2025 and we are already seeing results. Over the past year, Disciplina has out-performed our former investment advisor in terms of overall market returns. And by increasing our private market exposure, they have ensured that 35% of our portfolio is allocated to diverse-owned or diverse-led managers.
What sets Disciplina apart is that they are not just doing this because we want them to – it’s just how they do business.
“Diversification is a key tenet of investing,” said Wright. “So, incorporating top-tier talent through differentiated networks affords Disciplina the opportunity to identify compelling investments across an otherwise crowded landscape. Through early adoption we seek to forge true partnerships with our investment managers and heightened degree of transparency to their investment firm, systems, processes and team.”
Moving forward, the Foundation will continue to drive our investments to benefit our community, fund our initiatives and be good stewards of our endowment over the long term – all while ensuring our mission, vision and values remain at the center of our strategy. We are excited to center equity and anti-racism even more deeply as we work, learn and evolve with Disciplina for years to come.
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