ILPA's Principles are a checklist, not a rule

The record

The Institutional Limited Partners Association published version 3.0 of its Principles document, titled ILPA Principles 3.0: Fostering Transparency, Governance and Alignment of Interests for General and Limited Partners, on 1 June 2019, according to ILPA's own ILPA Principles page. ILPA's broader Principles and Best Practices page, describing its guidance as retrieved on 16 September 2026, states that the Principles were 'developed in partnership with LPs, GPs and industry experts' and continue to assert that three guiding ideas, alignment of interest, governance and transparency, 'form the essence of an effective private equity partnership.'

What the sources establish

ILPA's own description states the Principles cover GP and fund economics, fund terms and structure, key person provisions, fund governance, financial disclosures, and notification and policy disclosures. This is guidance ILPA itself frames as a model for negotiation between limited and general partners, produced by a membership association rather than a regulator, and the pages describing it use the language of recommendation rather than requirement throughout. It sits alongside, but is distinct from, ILPA's separate fee-specific reporting template, which addresses expense itemization rather than governance and alignment terms.

Scope and revision

Nothing in ILPA's own materials suggests the Principles bind a general partner the way a statute or SEC rule would; adoption depends on what LPs negotiate into a fund's governing documents and what a GP agrees to accept, fund by fund. Because ILPA is a membership organization representing limited partners, its Principles reflect the negotiating priorities of that membership rather than an industry-wide consensus, and a fund's marketing materials describing 'ILPA-aligned' terms should be read against the actual governing documents rather than taken as a certification. Version 3.0 superseded ILPA's earlier Principles editions but did not eliminate the possibility that older-vintage funds still operate under prior terms negotiated before 2019.

The decision in front of you

An LP reviewing a fund's terms can use the Principles' three categories, alignment, governance and transparency, as a checklist for what to look for in the actual limited partnership agreement, understanding that any claimed adherence is voluntary and should be verified in the document itself rather than assumed from a manager's description. This is an editorial use of ILPA's own framing, not a claim that any specific fund follows it.

• Does the fund's actual limited partnership agreement address the governance, economics and disclosure categories the Principles describe?
• Is a claim of 'ILPA-aligned' terms verifiable in the governing documents, or only in marketing language?
• Was the fund formed before or after the 2019 edition, and which Principles version, if any, did its negotiation reference?

ILPA's Principles are a private association's recommended terms, useful as a reference point precisely because they are not a rule any fund is required to follow.