Meeting template
Investment Committee Meeting Agenda Template
Use the agenda to surface decisions, exceptions, evidence, and owners—not to move through a stack of manager reports without testing the policy.
Published by BoardReady IPS · Educational resource
Bracketed fields are intentionally unresolved. Adapt the agenda to the committee’s actual charter, policy, cadence, and current decisions.
What belongs on an investment committee agenda?
Each agenda should identify the policy and charter in force; approvals requested; prior actions; conflicts; spending, cash, liquidity, allocation, risk, performance, fees, provider, and compliance information relevant to the committee’s authority; actual or expected exceptions; and matters that must be referred to the board. Every decision should end with an owner, record, and due date.
Send decision-ready pre-reads
A report can be accurate and still fail to prepare a decision. The chair and staff should label every agenda item as Decision, Discussion, Monitoring, or Information. A decision memo should state the authority, question, alternatives, recommendation if any, relevant policy language, evidence, conflicts, risks, fees, liquidity effect, and proposed motion.
| Pre-read | Question it should answer |
|---|---|
| Prior minutes and action log | What was decided, what remains open, and who owns it? |
| Policy and charter excerpts | Which body has authority and which boundaries apply? |
| Cash, spending, and liquidity forecast | What payments, draws, calls, and stressed needs must be supported? |
| Portfolio and allocation report | Where is the portfolio relative to targets and ranges, and why? |
| Performance and risk report | What do policy and manager comparisons show, on what fee basis and periods? |
| Compliance and exception log | What is outside policy, expected to breach, or waiting for approval? |
| Provider and fee report | What changed in people, process, organization, risk, service, conflicts, or total cost? |
| Decision memoranda | What exactly must the committee or board decide, and what evidence supports it? |
Copyable working agenda · adapt to actual authority
Investment Committee Meeting
Organization: [NAME]
Date and time: [DATE / TIME / TIME ZONE]
Location: [LOCATION / REMOTE DETAILS]
Chair: [NAME]
Recorder: [NAME]
Charter and IPS versions: [VERSIONS / DATES]
1. Call to order and governance — [5 minutes]
- Confirm quorum and attendance.
- Invite conflict disclosures for agenda items; record recusals or safeguards.
- Approve or amend the agenda.
- Approve prior minutes: [DATE].
- Review status of prior assignments and between-meeting actions.
2. Mission, finance, spending, and liquidity — [15 minutes]
- [Monitoring] Material changes in mission, budget, gifts, restrictions, liabilities, debt, or operating outlook.
- [Monitoring] Approved and expected spending or withdrawals; calculation and payment timing.
- [Monitoring] Rolling cash forecast, stressed needs, collateral, and unfunded commitments.
- [Decision / escalation] [DESCRIBE ANY LIQUIDITY OR FUND-AVAILABILITY QUESTION].
3. Portfolio, allocation, and risk — [20 minutes]
- Market value, contributions, withdrawals, and material valuation issues.
- Actual allocation versus approved targets and ranges.
- Rebalancing completed, proposed, deferred, or referred for approval.
- Concentration, illiquidity, leverage, counterparty, operational, and mission-related risks.
- Scenario or stress information relevant to current cash and commitments.
4. Performance, benchmarks, and fees — [15 minutes]
- Total portfolio versus the defined policy benchmark over relevant periods.
- Managers or strategies versus mandate-specific benchmarks.
- Confirmation of net or gross presentation and which fees are included.
- Complete investment, advisory, custody, fund, administrative, and other relevant costs.
- Interpretation: what is signal, what is short-term noise, and what requires action?
5. Providers and implementation — [15 minutes]
- Material personnel, process, organization, ownership, risk, service, operational, or compliance changes.
- Watch-list items and required due diligence.
- Actual or potential conflicts and mitigation.
- [Decision] Provider, manager, vehicle, commitment, termination, or contract question: [DESCRIBE].
6. Policy compliance and exceptions — [10 minutes]
- Review each actual or expected breach against the named provision.
- Confirm cause, impact, interim safeguard, owner, proposed remedy, authority, and target date.
- Record exceptions approved, denied, referred, or still Open.
- Identify whether a recurring exception indicates a policy or implementation problem.
7. Policy, education, and annual work — [10 minutes]
- IPS, spending policy, reserve policy, charter, or provider-agreement review due this period.
- Member orientation or education tied to a decision—not a sales presentation.
- Upcoming fund, legal, accounting, tax, audit, or governance work.
- Matters that require full-board action.
8. Decisions, actions, and close — [5 minutes]
- Read back each motion, decision, vote, recusal, and item referred to the board.
- Confirm every action owner, evidence or deliverable, and due date.
- Identify materials for the board report.
- Confirm next meeting and anticipated decisions.
- Adjourn at [TIME].
Fictional completed decision example
Illustrative only; not a client case. The pre-read for a fictional literacy nonprofit shows its board-designated reserve at 14% private-market exposure with a 15% policy maximum, plus a new commitment request. An 18-month facilities payment is now probable. The agenda labels the item Decision, attaches the cash forecast and commitment schedule, and quotes the charter provision allowing the committee to approve commitments only when projected liquidity remains above the policy minimum.
The committee defers the new commitment, assigns staff and the adviser to update the stressed cash analysis, and asks for a recommendation at the next meeting. Minutes record the information considered and the authority used. The committee does not label the deferral an investment forecast; it is a governance response to changed cash evidence.
Decision and action register
| Agenda item | Authority | Decision / action | Owner | Due | Evidence / record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| [ ] | [CHARTER / IPS SECTION] | [APPROVED / DEFERRED / REFERRED / ACTION] | [ ] | [ ] | [MINUTES / MEMO / REPORT] |
| [ ] | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] |
| [ ] | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] |
Example annual governance calendar
This example distributes work; it does not prescribe a quarter or cadence. Add standing monitoring at every meeting and schedule items when the organization has the evidence to evaluate them.
| Cycle | Focused work |
|---|---|
| Meeting 1 | Mission and financial outlook; spending or reserve calculation; liquidity and commitments; annual committee conflict disclosures |
| Meeting 2 | Strategic allocation and risk-capacity review; scenario analysis; provider and fee review |
| Meeting 3 | Fund records and restrictions; custody, controls, and operational review; member education tied to upcoming decisions |
| Meeting 4 | IPS and charter review; committee effectiveness; provider watch list; recommendations and calendar for the next year |
Agenda questions
Can you provide an example investment committee agenda?
The working agenda above covers governance, liquidity, portfolio, risk, performance, fees, providers, compliance, policy work, decisions, and follow-up. Replace the bracketed items and time blocks to fit actual authority and decisions.
Should managers attend the full meeting?
The committee should design attendance around the information, conflicts, confidentiality, and decisions involved. Provider presentations should not crowd out committee deliberation, compliance review, or board business. Record who attended each item.
What should minutes record?
At minimum, record attendance, quorum, conflicts and recusals, materials considered, motions, decisions and votes, material reasoning where appropriate, exceptions, assignments, items referred to the board, and next steps. Counsel can advise on the organization’s legal and confidentiality requirements.