Interactive review workspace

Investment Policy Statement Checklist

Mark each item Ready, Open, or Not applicable. A Ready item needs evidence. An Open item needs an owner and next action. Record why an item does not apply.

Published by BoardReady IPS · Educational resource

What does this checklist produce?

It produces a working review record, not an approved policy. Use the evidence field for a document, analysis, decision, or explanation. Use the owner field for the person responsible for the open action. You can copy or download a text summary, print the table, or explicitly save it in this browser.

Review context

OrganizationPool or policyPolicy versionReview date

0 of 25 complete · 0 ReadyNot saved

Browser saving stays on this device in local storage; it is not sent to BoardReady IPS. Clear the checklist to remove the saved copy. Download or copy the record before clearing if you need to retain it.

Completion: 0 of 25 complete · 0 Ready

Decision to verify	Status	Evidence, document, or next action	Owner
1. Scope and foundation
The legal entity and assets covered are named.	Status for item 1	Evidence or next action for item 1	Owner for item 1
Operating cash, reserves, board-designated funds, and endowment funds are separated where their purposes differ.	Status for item 2	Evidence or next action for item 2	Owner for item 2
Governing documents, gift instruments, committee charters, contracts, and controlling policies have been gathered.	Status for item 3	Evidence or next action for item 3	Owner for item 3
Applicable legal, tax, accounting, and fiduciary questions have been identified for qualified advisers.	Status for item 4	Evidence or next action for item 4	Owner for item 4
The investment purpose is connected to mission, budget, cash flows, and financial plans.	Status for item 5	Evidence or next action for item 5	Owner for item 5
2. Authority and accountability
The board’s retained decisions are explicit.	Status for item 6	Evidence or next action for item 6	Owner for item 6
Committee authority and reporting obligations align with its charter.	Status for item 7	Evidence or next action for item 7	Owner for item 7
Staff instructions, controls, and approval limits are clear.	Status for item 8	Evidence or next action for item 8	Owner for item 8
Advisor, OCIO, manager, consultant, and custodian roles are distinguished.	Status for item 9	Evidence or next action for item 9	Owner for item 9
Provider selection, monitoring, conflicts, fees, custody, and termination are documented.	Status for item 10	Evidence or next action for item 10	Owner for item 10
3. Objectives and constraints
Objectives reflect spending or withdrawals, inflation or purchasing power, fees, time horizon, and expected cash flows.	Status for item 11	Evidence or next action for item 11	Owner for item 11
Risk capacity and risk tolerance have been discussed separately.	Status for item 12	Evidence or next action for item 12	Owner for item 12
Liquidity requirements include stressed—not only expected—needs.	Status for item 13	Evidence or next action for item 13	Owner for item 13
Donor, legal, tax, mission, concentration, and operational constraints are recorded.	Status for item 14	Evidence or next action for item 14	Owner for item 14
Any mission-alignment or responsible-investing direction is specific, applicable, and monitorable.	Status for item 15	Evidence or next action for item 15	Owner for item 15
4. Portfolio implementation
Each approved asset class or strategy has a defined role.	Status for item 16	Evidence or next action for item 16	Owner for item 16
Targets and ranges reflect the board’s decisions rather than a copied model allocation.	Status for item 17	Evidence or next action for item 17	Owner for item 17
Prohibited assets, concentration, leverage, derivatives, and illiquidity rules are unambiguous.	Status for item 18	Evidence or next action for item 18	Owner for item 18
Rebalancing triggers, discretion, timing, reporting, and exception authority are assigned.	Status for item 19	Evidence or next action for item 19	Owner for item 19
A documented process covers commitments, distributions, and liquidity.	Status for item 20	Evidence or next action for item 20	Owner for item 20
5. Monitoring and maintenance
Policy and manager benchmarks match the decisions being evaluated and have defined calculation methods.	Status for item 21	Evidence or next action for item 21	Owner for item 21
Reports distinguish gross and net performance and disclose the specified fees.	Status for item 22	Evidence or next action for item 22	Owner for item 22
Policy compliance, exceptions, liquidity, risks, and conflicts appear on the committee agenda.	Status for item 23	Evidence or next action for item 23	Owner for item 23
Scheduled and event-triggered review, amendment authority, and version control are recorded.	Status for item 24	Evidence or next action for item 24	Owner for item 24
The approval date, effective version, supporting evidence, and board minutes are retained.	Status for item 25	Evidence or next action for item 25	Owner for item 25

Stop when the answer is “we assume.” Mark the item Open, identify what would resolve it, assign an owner, and return the decision to the authorized body. Mark N/A only with a reason.

How often should this review happen?

Use the checklist during initial drafting and on the cadence the board adopts. Many organizations schedule at least an annual read-through, but the policy should also name event triggers: material changes in mission, cash flows, spending, gifts, restrictions, liabilities, law, governance, providers, or portfolio structure. A completed review can conclude that no amendment is needed; record that conclusion and the evidence considered.

Which documents should the committee gather?

Start with governing documents, gift instruments and fund records, board designations, committee charters, reserve and spending policies, provider agreements, current holdings and allocation, fee information, performance and compliance reports, cash-flow forecasts, budgets, debt or collateral obligations, unfunded commitments, conflict disclosures, recent minutes, and the current approved IPS. The organization may need additional records.

What counts as evidence?

Evidence is something the committee can inspect: a controlling document, board resolution, signed agreement, calculation, forecast, account record, due-diligence file, provider report, legal or tax advice, conflict disclosure, exception log, or minutes. “The advisor knows” and “we have always done it this way” are not durable governance records.