A rapidly growing club on campus, The Fund at Drew University offers students the chance to gain practical knowledge and experience in the world of finance. The student-led organization manages an equities portfolio of around $35,000 annually, built through a combination of student research and investments.
Composed of 11 sectors, The Fund holds shares in approximately 25 companies and regularly manages stocks in the dynamic financial market, providing real-world, hands-on experience for students interested in learning about making financial decisions, both at a market and individual level.
The club holds meetings for all members every Thursday in which managing directors and the executive board provide market updates and an overview of the current portfolio holdings and metrics. There are also opportunities for board and club members alike to make stock pitches, encouraging the group to invest in or sell shares in different companies.
The Nov. 2 meeting saw Jagger Kebea (‘24), Managing Director of Real Estate and Utilities, cover the weekly market update, reviewing the state of domestic and global equities, important market news, key sectors to watch and earnings in significant holdings that can determine if stocks will go up or down.
The meeting also featured a stock pitch from Jack Polvere (‘24), JD Shepherd (‘24) and Nate Entwisle (‘25), which passed after club members voted to sell all of the group’s shares in the financial services firm Marqeta for just under $300 in response to the company’s consistent negative net income.
Polvere, The Fund’s chief financial officer, spoke on the valuable opportunities available to those involved in the club.
“If you are doing stock pitches, that’s a really good way to work on public speaking, being able to have a conversation with somebody and kind of work through that process of creating a stock pitch and all the behind the scenes stuff,” Polvere said. “It’s pretty challenging to do, especially for your first one; it kind of makes you realize, ‘oh wow, I can really learn a lot, I can really do this and apply this to other things.’”
The Fund also regularly hosts workshops for its members, in collaboration with the Center for Career Development, to work on career skills like resume and LinkedIn building, offering more knowledge and transferable skills outside of just learning about finance.
“Inside of the meetings, we have hosted two workshops so far, and we’re hosting another workshop next week, so things about like career advice, how to reach out to people on LinkedIn, how to set up a LinkedIn, how to set up your resume, how to prepare for an interview, things like that,” Polvere said, highlighting some of the tangible skills students can pick up.
Amira Ahmad Hadri (‘24), Managing Director of Tech and Consumer Staples, credited her experiences in The Fund with helping to boost her confidence and presentation skills, as well as offering a real glimpse into the world of finance.
“It’s very much a real-world experience because we’re dealing with real money,” Hadri said.
This real-world experience translates into post-academic roles, helping students find opportunities in different professional settings.
“When it comes to, like, interviews, it’s a very good talking point to have, to be like ‘oh I’m part of this club; I was able to work on a pitch, and here’s how the result was,’ so it gives you a lot of really tangible skills, and I guess just like characteristic traits that you could work on being here, like networking with people, getting to meet people, so it really applies outside of The Fund too,” Polvere said.
The Fund is not a new club on campus, but it has recently undergone a massive revitalization after dying out during the COVID-19 pandemic. Polvere credited the organization’s previous leaders with contributing to the club’s impressive growth last year. The 2022-2023 executive board and campus partners facilitated a multi-departmental effort to get The Fund up and running again, combining resources and community outreach within the Drew student body to get prospective and current students alike involved.
“I think it was just a lot of word of mouth, communicating to everybody, and then once people started coming to the meetings, I feel like everybody really enjoyed it and wanted to become involved with it,” Polvere said.
Although The Fund is focused on gaining experience and knowledge in the finance industry, it is by no means exclusive to students studying finance, economics or business.
“Anybody is welcome and anybody can learn about how to do a pitch or just learn about some of the terms and just be able to make financial decisions on their own, that’s important,” Polvere said. “So I think that people see the value that it has outside of just coming to the meetings.” If you have any questions about joining The Fund, you can email them at thefund@drew.edu.
Charlotte Wells is a senior majoring in English and French and minoring in humanities.