Starting in 2014, Rob Roquitte and Phil Waara built a large practice at a Madison, WI asset manager that provided comprehensive investment services to nonprofit organizations. As the practice continued to grow, it became obvious that it was not able to scale down to smaller nonprofits. Frustrated by having to turn away smaller organizations, they began to envision a technology-driven solution that could be offered at a lower cost than traditional investment services.
“As we began our market research, we quickly came to realize that small nonprofits were being ignored by traditional investment management companies,” said Roquitte.
“They simply had limited investment options provided primarily by personal wealth advisors. That needed to change.”
That is when the concept of eCIO, “The Chief Investment Officer for Nonprofits,” was born. Not only does eCIO offer low-cost investment management services, but it also combines a comprehensive set of board management tools into an easy-to-use online platform.
eCIO goes beyond asset management to provide additional nonprofit services including:
- Document management
- Event management
- Investment policy statement and spending policy development
- Asset allocation analysis
- Fiduciary education
- Financial statement analysis and budgeting
eCIO takes a holistic approach to risk assessment and investment management. The process begins by administering a confidential Needs Assessment Survey designed to ensure each member’s goals and objectives are taken into account.
eCIO works with the oversight committee to determine an appropriate asset allocation utilizing risk, correlation, and return expectations.
Personalized, video-based portfolio reviews are uploaded quarterly to each nonprofit’s myecio.com portal. Members have one-click access to their investment advisor should they have any questions or need additional advice.
“Our purpose is simple,” Roquitte says. “Help nonprofits do more by maximizing their financial resources and thereby having a positive impact on the world.”
eCIO officially launched on Nov 1, 2019. With an aggressive growth strategy, eCIO is poised to change the way nonprofits manage their investments in the coming years.
eCIO is a low-cost investment management platform for nonprofits of any size. eCIO’s platform additionally provides online board management tools that help organizations manage their boards more effectively including document management and event scheduling.
