RISA CHARITABLE TRUST
email:info@risafund.org
web: www.risafund.org
TEL: 774.276.0202
9120 173rd Ave SE
Snohomish, WA 98290 USA
RISA Founder and former Board President
Formerly the President of the Board, Sam Folin came to the RISA Charitable Trust with over 30 years of experience in the investment business and extensive organizational development history with the nonprofit investment sector. He is the President & CEO of Benchmark Asset Managers, LLC. Benchmark serves as consultant and manager of managers to individuals and religious endowments.
Before Benchmark, Folin's most recent investment experience was eight years with the large-cap equity firm Newbold's Asset Management. As a Senior Vice President, he held responsibility in research, portfolio management and marketing. While at Newbold's, he managed 24 accounts with a peak value of $1.2 billion (of which a quarter was South-Africa-free) and participated in new business competitions that won $3 billion-plus in awards for Newbold's. During tenure at Newbold's, he earned the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation, the primary professional credential for financial analysts.
Prior to working in investment management, Folin spent eleven years as an investment broker, specializing in socially responsible investments and equities. He was also with the Presbyterian Church for four years, staffing a program for the Mission Responsibility Through Investment Committee. Folin helped to lead the Church's initial efforts in community investment and corporate responsibility activism.
His experience in the nonprofit world is extensive. Folin was one of two driving forces behind creation of the The Reinvestment Fund (TRF), the preeminent community loan fund in the United States. His leadership, combined with many contributions from a strong volunteer board, helped to build a fund committed to making cutting edge community development loans while maintaining high financial underwriting standards. Headed by Jeremy Nowak, the fund is presently capitalized at more than $85 million and serves as a model for financial integrity and innovation, while performing as an important player nationwide.
Folin left Newbold's in July 1995, and spent two years consulting with nonprofit organizations on governance, fund raising, planning and financial management. This experience included two visits to Africa to prepare for and to lead a ten-week study tour in South Africa and Uganda. Folin made seven more visits to South Africa to research RISA investment opportunities. The inspiration for RISA grew out of the combined experiences of TRF, a background in money management and the hands-on research in South Africa.