Building and maintaining strong relationships with institutions to deliver member value and achieve our mission to lead the investment profession globally.
Why Engage With Institutions?
When we build and maintain strong relationships with institutions, such as investment firms and institutional asset owners, we improve awareness of our offerings in the industry and drive employer demand for individuals who have completed our programs. Institutions embrace our codes, standards, and practices, and rise to a new level of excellence. Societies win because highly engaged industry partners become sponsors, event hosts, speakers, or volunteers.
Finding ways to demonstrate the value CFA Institute and CFA Societies can offer these firms and their employees is the most effective way to build deep and meaningful relationships.
Working Together to Advance Our Mission
Every society can participate in institutional engagement, regardless of size, resources, and local market. It starts with understanding and meeting the most common challenges institutions face and how CFA Institute and society offerings can meet these challenges. Then, structuring your institutional engagement based on what makes the most sense for your society and market.
Benefits of engaging institutions
Society Members
- Build professional relationships
- Gain recognition for the value of the CFA charter among current and potential employers as well as clients
- Expand job opportunities
Societies
- Attract speakers
- Gain sponsorships
- Engage industry on key issues
- Boost event attendance
- Increase membership
Institutions
- Hire, retain, and grow investment professionals
- Improve portfolio evaluation and performance
- Educate and engage employees with investment industry essentials
- Reach and influence industry
Investment firms’ core challenges
Talent
Investment management firms must attract, retain, and motivate the best talent. Companies with happy, motivated, diverse cultures perform better and create more value for the clients and investors that they serve.
Performance
Institutions must achieve a positive and competitive return, continue to raise and retain assets, and operate with as much financial and cost discipline as possible.
Risk
Firms want to control and minimize risk. The foundation of a great risk management framework is a strong ethical base, where great talent operates from an investor-first mentality and is well equipped with a strong knowledge base, the latest thinking on critical issues, and an ethical framework to guide decision making.
Benefit-driven offerings
Designations and Professional Development
- Chartered Financial Analyst® (CFA®) Program
- Certificate in Investment Performance Measurement (CIPM®) Program
- CFA Institute Investment Foundations® Program
Ethics, Codes, and Standards
- Ethics Offerings
- CFA Institute Asset Manager Code
- Global Investment Performance Standards (GIPS®)
Industry Engagement
- Thought Leadership
- Conferences and Events
- Networks and Committees
Institutional Engagement: Every Society Can Participate
There will be differences based on a society’s size, resources, and local market, but every society can participate in institutional engagement. The following steps will help you determine at what level your society might engage.
Understand your market
Smaller societies or those with limited resources (Level 1) can focus on a few local institutions and engage with them on a select number of CFA Institute offerings. Societies in medium to larger markets or those with more resources (Level 2 and 3) can focus on selected strategic institutional relationships that can most effectively advance the society’s mission then expand from there.
Define the scope
Based on your society’s size, your targeted institutions and their needs, determine what engagement activities make the most sense for your society.
Outreach strategies could include:
Level 1
- Invite members to bring employers to events
- Tag local employers on relevant social media posts
- Invite members and employers to follow your society on LinkedIn
- Invite institutions to speak or host an event
- Invite local institutions to Research Challenge events
Level 2
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Invite institutions to be Research Challenge judges, sponsors, mentors, or provide internships for finalists
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Offer institutions exposure through sponsorship opportunities at events
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Host events with industry peers and stakeholders to discuss issues and best practices
Level 3
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Conduct independent, high-quality research to gain credibility and awareness
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Establish ambassadors at targeted firms to promote society offerings and events
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Team up with institutions and universities to host career fairs, D&I events, and CFA Society Days to raise awareness of your society and its offerings
Get started
We encourage you to connect with your Society Relations Manager to begin outreach in your local market. Here's how to get started.