Free guide · PDF
Ten Questions to Ask an OCIO
A committee’s guide to evaluating outsourced CIO and investment consulting proposals — what to ask, why it matters, what a good answer looks like, and a scoring sheet for finalists.
- Use it in an RFPPaste the ten questions into your request for proposal so every firm answers the same thing.
- Use it in finalist interviewsScore each answer 0–2. Firms below 14 of 20 should not make the list regardless of fee.
- Use it on your current providerIncluding us. The questions are the same in year one and year ten.
Companion reading: How OCIO Pricing Actually Works · How Much Should an Endowment Pay an OCIO · The OCIO RFP template · Integrated CIO™ for financial institutions
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A preview: three of the ten questions
Each question in the guide comes with why it matters and what a good answer looks like. Three of them:
- Are you a fiduciary to our organization in writing, and is any part of your compensation paid by anyone other than us?Revenue sharing, platform fees and proprietary funds change the economics of the advice even when the headline fee looks low.
- Show us the all-in cost of the program on one page, in dollars, for our actual portfolio.Basis points alone hide the largest line item.
- What are the notice period, transition support and ownership of documents if we decide to leave?A fair fee with a hard exit is not a fair fee.
The guide covers all ten, with a 0–2 scoring sheet for comparing finalists. Get the guide →