Please be advised that we have posted a link to a lightly edited version of prepared remarks delivered by staff during an October 21 teleconference we hosted for MAF members. We also have posted links to two special bulletins on MAF’s evolving performance and exposures that we distributed to MAF members on September 17 and October 15.

To access these remarks and special bulletins, as well as some important related disclosures, please click here. Please note that the special bulletins posted to the website reflect several minor changes from the versions distributed originally to MAF members. We’ve made such changes to facilitate such documents’ dissemination via the Web.

MAF and IEF invest in stocks listed on non-US exchanges. Trading on many such exchanges ends prior to the NYSE market close, the time at which the funds' holdings are priced. Consistent with best practices, such securities are "fair valued," a process that entails, among other things, consideration of events occurring between the close of local, non-US exchanges and the subsequent US market close. On days such as September 15, 2008, during which US markets fall sharply after the close of oveseas markets that themselves fell sharply earlier in the day, these stocks experience a "double-whammy" effect of sorts: they're marked down to their closing price on the local, non-US exchange and then again for fair valuation purposes to reflect the anticipated next day decline on the local, non-US exchange resulting, in part, from US market declines. This fair value impact can cause the funds to post daily NAV changes that imply exposures to equity markets -- "betas," to use industry parlance -- that exceed their actual equity market exposures. For example, with European markets down roughly 4.5% and the S&P down another 3.0% post-European markets' close, MAF's and IEF's European-listed equities will likely be priced to reflect declines on the order of 7% - 8%. Notably, the MSCI All Country World Index and All Country World ex-US Index, which comprise the global equity segment benchmark and fund benchmark for MAF and IEF, respectively, do not employ fair valuation techniques when arriving at their daily closing levels.

TIFF is adding talent in new areas, depth in existing roles and experience throughout. During the second quarter, the staff welcomed Herbie Bohnet (legal), James Butcher (trading, research), Paul Horvitz (editorial), Emily McCandless (administration), Jim Shields (information technology) and Christian Szautner (compliance). Brief biographies can be viewed by clicking the Our Staff link at left. Benjamin Franklin's Poor Richard said in his 1750 Almanack: "Hide not your Talents, they for Use were made. What's a Sun-Dial in the Shade?"