Allocator sourcing has moved from cold outreach and static lists toward active, allocator-led discovery that runs year-round. Relationships still decide who gets funded, but the way allocators reach those relationships has changed. iConnections event and platform data shows allocators initiating about half of meetings, running tens of thousands of searches for managers every quarter, and returning to the same structured events year after year.
Five years ago, the standard picture of manager sourcing was simple. Managers pitched, allocators filtered, and most first contact came through a cold email, a placement agent or a database export. That picture is out of date.
What follows is what our own data, our 2026 Global Allocator Report produced with J.P. Morgan Asset Management, and allocators speaking on the Global Alts stage say about how sourcing works now.
How do allocators find new fund managers today?
Mostly through networks and in-person events, now supported by platforms that keep those networks active between meetings. In the iConnections 2026 Global Allocator Report, nearly 80% of LPs said they discover new managers through their professional networks, and more than half cited conferences and industry events as a primary sourcing channel.
What has changed is how those networks are built and used. A network used to mean the managers an allocator already knew plus whoever reached their inbox. Today it increasingly means a live, searchable community where both sides can see each other. Violet, the platform built by iConnections, connects more than 26,000 allocators, managers and service providers representing more than $55 trillion in assets, and it works before, during and after Global Alts events.
Are allocators more active in sourcing than they used to be?
Yes. The clearest change is who starts the conversation. About half of meetings at Global Alts events are initiated by allocators, not fund managers, and LPs initiate roughly half of all meetings on Violet as well. Sourcing is no longer something that only happens to allocators when a manager reaches out.
Search activity tells the same story. Violet logged more than 100,000 AI-powered searches in a 90-day period, and 70,000 of them came from allocators looking for managers. Allocators also generate more than 250,000 profile views of fund managers each year. That is first-party behavioral data, what allocators do rather than what they say in a survey, and it shows LPs running their own discovery at scale.
Jamie Rhode, a partner at Screendoor, a venture fund of funds that invests only in emerging managers, described the old model on stage at Global Alts New York 2026. Starting out around 2015, “it was just a lot of smile and dial and just brand building.” Today, she said, her firm’s deal flow has “become a lot more inbound.” Asked where she finds managers, the answer from the panel was direct: “I find them [at] iConnections.”
How has in-person sourcing changed?
In-person sourcing has grown, not faded, but it has become more structured. Meetings at Global Alts New York grew every year since launch: more than 1,800 in 2023, more than 2,000 in 2024, more than 2,400 in 2025 and more than 3,000 in 2026. That is growth of roughly two-thirds in three years at a single event.
Allocators are also coming back. 62% of allocators at Global Alts New York return year over year. Global Alts Miami 2026 convened 5,000 decision makers representing more than $55 trillion in assets and scheduled more than 21,000 one-on-one meetings at a single event, held despite a major Northeast snowstorm.
The format matters as much as the scale. Allocators attend for free when they commit to a set number of onsite meetings (15 at Global Alts Miami and 12 at Global Alts New York), and meetings are pre-scheduled and matched for fit. That turns an event from a place to run into managers into a planned sourcing session.
Which allocators are driving the change?
Family offices are the largest group and among the most active sourcers. At Global Alts New York 2026, single family offices made up 33% of attending allocators and multi-family offices another 14%, ahead of funds of funds (12%), asset managers and investment firms (10%), endowments and foundations (9%) and pensions (5%).
Family offices tend to run lean teams with broad mandates, which makes efficient discovery especially valuable to them. One family office investment principal quoted on iConnections’ allocators page put it this way: “As a family office sourcing across alternatives, signal versus noise is everything… I can move from interest to a real conversation in a fraction of the time it used to take.”
Larger institutions are using the same tools to widen their reach. A senior investment manager at a pension fund, also quoted on the allocators page, said the real value is “access to GPs I’d never find through traditional channels: small, niche, geographically distant funds that don’t travel.”
What role does AI play in manager sourcing now?
AI is changing the search step, not the judgment step. Allocators on Violet can describe what they want in plain language, apply more than 200 filters and get results in under a second. Violet can also hold a standing mandate, scan the network continuously and alert an allocator when a matching manager appears.
Allocators on stage were clear about where the line sits. George Lai of Valence, a boutique investment office backed by global family offices, said at Global Alts New York 2026: “All the data is available, but I think it places a premium on judgment… we all see the same data, but how we interpret it and how do we size it? Who do we back?” Another panelist added that tools commoditize data, “but alpha is finite.”
Alex Pall, co-founder of Mantis VC, made the same point from the other side: “No matter what happens with AI… there’s just no substitute for being in the right communities and the right networks, having access to the right information at the right time.”
What is driving allocators to source more selectively?
Uncertainty and a crowded market. In the iConnections Midyear 2026 survey, 80% of LPs cited geopolitical risk as a top concern, up from 61% in 2025, and 11% were unsure of their allocation plans, up from just 1%. Appetite is still strong: 59% plan to increase their alternatives allocation and only 2% plan to decrease.
The 2026 Global Allocator Report shows the same pattern. Three-quarters of LPs made at least one redemption in 2025, with 46% withdrawing from public strategies and roughly 23% from private markets, with the intent to redeploy into higher-conviction strategies. Private equity, private credit, real estate and real assets each face growing manager supply relative to LP attention. When capital is being recycled into fewer, higher-conviction bets, allocators need to see more of the market to choose well.
What this means
For allocators: sourcing has become a continuous process rather than a seasonal one. The allocators getting the widest view of the market combine structured events with always-on discovery and keep their networks active between meetings.
For fund managers: the allocator is increasingly the one searching. A complete, current profile, clear positioning and a presence at the events allocators return to every year now matter as much as outbound outreach. About half of meetings start on the allocator side, so being findable is part of fundraising.
Frequently asked questions
How do institutional investors find new fund managers in 2026?
Mainly through professional networks and in-person events. Nearly 80% of LPs in the iConnections 2026 Global Allocator Report source through networks and more than half through conferences and events, increasingly supported by platforms such as Violet.
Do allocators reach out to fund managers first?
Often. About half of meetings at Global Alts events and on Violet are initiated by allocators, and allocators ran 70,000 manager searches on Violet in a single 90-day period.
Are investment conferences still important for manager sourcing?
Yes. Meetings at Global Alts New York grew from more than 1,800 in 2023 to more than 3,000 in 2026, and 62% of allocators return year over year.
How is AI changing manager selection?
AI speeds up search and matching, but allocators say it raises the premium on judgment rather than replacing it. Deciding who to back and how much to allocate is still a human call.
Which types of allocators are most active in sourcing new managers?
Family offices are the largest group at Global Alts New York, at 47% of attending allocators (33% single family offices, 14% multi-family offices).
