A white paper from Commonfund Institute examines how the outsourced chief investment officer (OCIO) model is growing and helping nonprofit institutional investors tap into strategies only previously available to the largest endowments complete with large, dedicated management teams.

Institutions that decide to outsource are basing their decision on the desire to:

• Optimize management and oversight of increasingly complex investment portfolios;
• Enable timely decision-making;
• Make more efficient use of limited staff resources;
• Allow trustees to better fulfill their fiduciary duties by focusing on policy and strategic oversight; and
• Deal with a more rigorous regulatory environment.

The OCIO concept offers a broad range of implementation models, enabling different types of organization to identify a model that works well for their particular needs and preferences.

The paper offers a list of questions to ask an OCIO candidate.

The paper is here.