The Cardinal Fund is a $1,000,000 student-managed investment fund designed to provide students with an experiential learning opportunity by offering real-world security analysis and portfolio management experience where students become a Cardinal Fund Asset Manager. The Cardinal Fund began with an initial donation from Peter Forlenza, and is supplemented by funding from the University endowment. It will enhance understanding of the stock market and prepare students for a career in finance.
The Cardinal Fund Purpose
While the overall investment objective of the Fund is to provide returns consistent with the University’s Investment Policy, the primary objective of the Program is to provide students with hands-on security analysis and portfolio management experience.
Applications are required to be selected as a member of the Program. Program students are required to enroll in a two-semester investment fund class in their senior year, whose primary topics include Financial Statement Analysis, Equity Valuation, and Portfolio Management.
Catholic Conscience Investing
The Cardinal Fund will be managed in a manner consistent with the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) Socially Responsible Investment Guidelines.
Pedagogy and Performance
The Cardinal Fund's primary goal is to provide an exceptional learning opportunity for students, and to help prepare them for future careers. A key component of Program membership is commitment to the responsibility to prudently manage assets, which are part of the University’s endowment. The CFIC, a group of Busch School faculty, alumni mentors, and select fund managers monitors the fund’s diversification across markets, economic sectors, and investment strategies.
Eligible Securities and Strategies
- Cash and Cash Equivalents
- Domestic Equities
- Index Funds and ETFs
- Sector and Country ETFs
Cardinal Fund Analysts
These are the students that are part of our program.
2023-2024
2022-2023
- Austin Coron
- Anna Galvin
- John Darcy
- Nicholas Scalzo
- Eric A Walker
- Erin Doherty
- Juan Esteban Gómez Vitta
- Spencer Van Dopp
- Abby Dembinski
- Kevin Falkenstein
- Max Schwarz
Performance
We aim at seeking opportunities in the small-cap sector and benchmark our results against the Russell indexes.
