Description
The survey encompasses 40 endowments – their preliminary FY2024 investment return, asset allocation, endowment value as well as longer-term benchmarks and the name of each chief investment officer. Included are details from just-released annual reports and/or websites.
Most endowments’ returns for FY2024 were much stronger than in FY2023. The average and median return is 10%. Of those that have reported so far, University of Nebraska, with a $2 billion endowment, leads with a 14.5% investment return. Princeton University, with a $34.1 billion endowment, has the lowest return at 3.9%.
The main drivers in performance appear to be the proportion of US versus non-US assets and the amount of venture capital in the portfolio. Elite endowments, those which generally have larger allocations to alternatives, underperformed for the second consecutive year. Smaller, less-resourced schools – those that tend to invest in basic stocks and bonds – tended to outperform in FY2024.
The eight Ivy League schools had an average return of 8.3%. Columbia and Brown University were the only two Ivy League schools to post returns above 10%.
The 30-page report includes individual and aggregated endowment tables with data on short-term and long-term returns, assets, and allocation.