New Advised Search Service launched for the charity sector

New Advised Search Service launched for the charity sector in partnership with PiRho Investment Consulting

UK charities seeking investment advice, insight and guidance can now benefit from a new Advised Search Service from CAMRADATA, a leading provider of data and analysis for institutional investors, which is being launched to the charity sector for the first time.

The Advised Search Service is free to use and is launched in partnership with PiRho Investment Consulting Ltd. Now charities can tap into this independent investment resource to make searching for an asset manager quicker and easier. Charities will not be charged to use CAMRADATA’s Advised Search Service on the basis an asset manager is appointed within an agreed timeframe.

Charities can use the service to search and connect with all asset managers using CAMRADATA Live, with the additional benefit of being able to use experienced investment consultancy firm, PiRho to assist them and provide investment advice.

The latest Charity Investment Survey from Newton Investment Management reveals that charity investment returns halved in the past year, with charities reporting average total returns of 4.2 per cent over the 12 months to 31 March 2018, compared to 10.9 per cent over the prior 12-month period.

Looking ahead, 50 per cent of charities (compared to 38 per cent in 2017) claim to expect returns of 6 per cent or less over the longer term. The survey was conducted with 97 charities with combined investment assets of £11.7bn

Sean Thompson, Managing Director, CAMRADATA said, “UK charities are increasingly looking at the stock market to plug funding gaps, as government and public donations have been squeezed in recent years. It’s vital that they maximise their returns in order to continue doing the important work that they do.

“Our Advised Search offered in conjunction with PiRho will give charities expert advice to help them choose the right asset manager and make more informed investment decisions.”

Gill Gibb, CEO of the children’s health charity, Tree of Hope welcomes the new service as she says it will give charities access to advice that is hard to find elsewhere.

Gill says, “This service will be a hugely valuable to charities looking to maximise their investments. It can be hard for charities to compare providers, especially if they don’t have a financial or investment background, as well as being very time consuming.

“The advised search service will benefit charities by saving them time as well as giving trustees the confidence they have chosen the best provider for them. I will definitely be encouraging charities to use the service.”

Nicola Ralston, Founder and Director at PiRho said, “Manager selection is one of PiRho’s core competencies. We are delighted to partner with CAMRADATA to bring PiRho’s expertise in qualitative research, backed up by structured quantitative analysis, to assist charities in successfully navigating the manager selection process.”

CAMRADATA’s Assisted Search Service already allows all institutional investors looking to appoint an asset manager, the facility to provide their search criteria, which are then circulated to all the asset managers on CAMRADATA Live.

CAMRADATA then builds a custom universe unique to the investor; this is uploaded, together with detailed analysis under the investor’s own CAMRADATA Live login, so that they can extract the information and use it to help them decide who they want to meet with and appoint.

When investors use the Advised Search Service, PiRho is able to provide support at each stage of the process. First, PiRho can assist in setting the search criteria most suited to achieve the underlying investment objective. Once the custom universe has been created, PiRho will provide additional insight to the data and facilitate an understanding of the key performance drivers and organisational merits. If charities seek additional advice, for example on overall strategy, PiRho can provide this separately from the Advised Search Service, making the overall package extremely cost effective, given that charities will not be charged for the manager selection element, assuming an appointment is made within the agreed timeframe.

At the decision stage PiRho can, if required, provide formal investment advice as to how best to balance the pros and cons of each asset manager’s offering, supporting the charity in selecting the most appropriate product or portfolio for its investment objectives.

Charities therefore have access to advice from PiRho to guide them on their manager search at every step of the way.