April 2022

Dear Members of the University of Montana Community,

The University of Montana Foundation is committed to responsible investment stewardship while seeking to generate the highest level of returns to ensure its ability to support the mission of the university for generations to come. To achieve this, we believe in access to a broad investment opportunity set, which may include select fossil fuel investments. Rather than divest from specific segments of the capital markets, the Foundation prefers a more inclusionary approach which focuses on integrating environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) considerations into the investment decision-making process. We actively engage on ESG matters and evaluate our investment managers on the steps they take to incorporate responsible investing into the Foundation’s endowment portfolio. We believe ESG integration has the potential to positively impact long-term investment returns and better control risks.

The Foundation recognizes that climate change is one of the most pressing global challenges facing us today. As our approach to responsible investment stewardship, the Foundation encourages our investment managers to disclose their ESG policies and approaches to assessing climate risk as part of their respective investment decision-making processes. The Foundation has diversified its real assets portfolio into investments specifically dedicated to environmental sustainability. Currently, the Foundation’s public market portfolio has a lower carbon footprint than its benchmark and we continue to explore investment opportunities arising from the transition to a low carbon economy.

Signed,
University of Montana Foundation Board of Trustees