Radio host’s remarks cost University of Central Missouri a big benefactor

The University of Central Missouri had a strong friend in Benoit Wesly. The Dutch entrepreneur funded scholarships. An endowed chair in the business department was about to be created. Wesly’s money built the 80-foot Maastricht Friendship Tower, a campus landmark since 1998. Now, after 20 years, Wesly has withdrawn his support because of an on-air remark by a Warrensburg radio personality who is affiliated with the university.

Full text article by Mara Rose Williams is available via The Kansas City Star, 2/1/10.

$30 million Danforth Foundation grant will fund Wash U studies on religion and politics

Former Senator John C. Danforth’s foundation has endowed a center for the study of religion and politics at St. Louis’s Washington University. The $30-million gift will support five new faculty members, including a permanent director for the center. The new entity, set to open next month, will aim to deepen understanding of the ties between faith and politics and encourage a civil discourse on the subject, according to Mark Wrighton, the university’s chancellor.

Full text article by Bill Lambrecht is available via the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 12/16/09.

Ivy League's Budget Cuts Minimize the Pain

The cuts at Harvard were dictated by a record 30-percent drop in its endowment over the past year. Yale University's endowment has fallen about as much, and Princeton University's loss isn't far behind, at 22.7 percent. The losses have cost the elite universities tens of billions of dollars and gained them lots of press.

Full text article by Robin Wilson is available via The Chronicle of Higher Education, 12/6/09.

Endowment Investments Returned Negative 19 Percent Last Year for Some 500 Colleges

The average investment return for more than 500 colleges and university endowments was minus-19 percent for the fiscal year ending June 30, according to the preliminary annual report on endowments by the National Association of College and University Business Officers and the Commonfund Institute. The figure was a slight improvement over the minus-22.5 percent average return for 435 institutions over the first five months of the 2009 fiscal year but an unusually big loss for the year. Since 2000, there were only two other years when average endowment returns were negative: 2001, when the average return was minus-3.6 percent, and 2002, when it was minus-6 percent.

Full text article by Goldie Blumenstyk is available via The Chronicle of Higher Education, 12/10/09.

Harvard ignored warnings about investments

Several former leaders of Harvard’s endowment say they warned university officials for years that they were taking too high a risk with Harvard’s cash investments. Two former endowment chiefs, Jack Meyer and Mohamed El-Erian, say they repeatedly told then-Harvard president Lawrence Summers, school financial staff members, and board members that the institution was investing too much of its general operating account with the endowment’s mix of stocks, bonds, hedge funds, and private equity. The cash account, which reached $5.1-billion during Mr. Summers’s tenure, lost $1.8-billion in the market downturn, forcing the school to tighten budgets, put off expansion plans, and issue bonds with hefty interest payments to cover the losses.



Full text article by Beth Healy is available via The Boston Globe, 11/29/09.

Harvard Losing Money Externally Helps Mendillo Return to Roots

As losses prompt Harvard University’s shift from external fund managers on the heels of its heavy endowment losses last year, the university is returning to its investing roots. The new strategy used by Harvard Management Company’s chief executive officer, Jane Mendillo, reverses that pursued by Jack Meyer, who headed the endowment from 1990 to 2005 and increased the portion in the hands of independent managers from 15 to 50 percent. The endowment grew sixfold during Mr. Meyer’s tenure but dropped from $36-billion to $26-billion in the most recent fiscal year.

Full-text post by Gillian Wee is available via Bloomberg, 10/8/09.

New Jersey Alleges Misuse of Funds by Stevens Institute of Technology's Leaders

The attorney general of New Jersey filed a 16-count civil complaint against the Stevens Institute of Technology, its president, and the chairman of its Board of Trustees charging that the college spent its endowment excessively, mishandled investments, failed to maintain accurate records, and gave too much money to its president. The state's lawsuit seeks the removal of the president and chairman and wants the defendants to repay Stevens's endowment.

Full-text post by Scott Carlson is available via The Chronicle of Higher Education, 9/17/09.

U. of Chicago Reallocates $600-Million in Endowment Investments

College endowments, reeling from their worst annual performance in decades, are questioning their faith in investments that fueled huge returns before backfiring last year.

Full-text post is available via The Chronicle of Philanthropy, 8.21.09.

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University of Pennsylvania Endowment Beats Harvard With Stocks

The University of Pennsylvania beat Harvard University’s endowment by choosing the right stock pickers, investing in credit strategies and boosting its Treasury bonds.

Full-text article by Gillian Wee is available via Bloomberg News, 8.13.09.

Charitable giving declines in poor economy (8/6/09)

John Connell, chief financial officer with the Stern Center for Language and Learning, located on Allen Brook Lane in Williston, said foundation endowments have disappeared and grants have been cancelled.

“It’s been a difficult year for everyone,” Connell said. “We’re very much going to have to ride out the funding lull.”

Full text article by Tim Simard is available via The Williston Observer, 8.6.09.

Steering Clear of Hedge Funds, Small Universities' Endowments Are Losing Less

Small universities’ endowments did significantly better in the just-ended fiscal year than their larger, higher-profile peers, which plunged more deeply into alternative investments such as hedge funds.

Full-text article by Craig Karmin is available via The Wall Street Journal, 7.1.09.

Charity's Declining Fortunes

In The Chronicle's annual survey of endowments, the 60 whose fiscal year ended in December suffered a median decline of 25.4 percent for 2008­ — ­meaning that half lost more and half lost less.

Full-text article by Noelle Barton and Ben Gose is available via The Chronicle of Philanthropy, 5.31.09. [Subscription required.]

New Unrest on Campus as Donors Rebel

Financially strapped colleges are angering their benefactors by selling school radio stations, auctioning Georgia O'Keeffe paintings and dipping into endowments for purposes their donors may not have intended.

Full-text article by John Hechinger is available via The Wall Street Journal, 4.23.09.

Williams Stuffs Students Into Dorms as Economy Pares Endowments

Experiencing investment losses, Amherst College, Cornell University, Johns Hopkins University and Bowdoin College are also planning to increase student populations, according to the schools’ admissions and public-relations officials. The institutions gain income because the expansions generally don’t require new buildings or faculty, said Michael McPherson, president of the Chicago-based Spencer Foundation, which funds education research.

Full-text article by Janet Frankston is available via Bloomerberg.com, 4.1.09.

Foundation Adapts to Challenging Economy (University of Connecticut)

Faced with dramatic declines in investment markets, the UConn Foundation has taken steps to both stabilize its revenue sources and at the same time provide predictable spending allocations to the Schools and Colleges. One is to enact a gift fee on all new gifts, effective Feb. 1. Another involves changing how the endowment management fee is assessed.

Full-text press release is available via The University of Connecticut website, 3.30.09.

Double Take: Higher Education

As endowments continue to lose value and economic outlooks grow ever bleaker, some of the nation’s wealthiest universities are calling for greater sacrifices than they were just a few months ago. In recent weeks, administrators at Stanford, Harvard and Cornell universities have laid out financial assessments that will require budget reductions, layoffs and increased borrowing. These measures go beyond earlier plans to deal with the economic downturn, suggesting the first steps were deemed insufficient to address a problem that has grown in scale.

Full-text article by Jack Stripling is available via InsideHigherEd, 3.10.09.

Harvard Accepts Higher Debt Costs as Bankers Profit

Harvard’s interest costs are set to increase as much as $550 million over three decades because the U.S.’s wealthiest and oldest university took advice from Goldman Sachs Group Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Morgan Stanley.

Full-text article by Michael Quint and Gillian Wee is available via Bloomberg, 3.3.09.

Princeton, Harvard Lead Bond Sales as Endowments Fall

Princeton and Harvard are leading U.S. colleges and universities in a new wave of bond sales after market losses cut the value of endowments by a quarter in the past six months, according to Moody’s Investors Service.

Full-text article by Gillian Wee is available via Bloomberg, 1.14.09.

U of Michigan Expects $2 Billion Loss By December 31

Fresh off a record-breaking fundraising campaign, the University of Michigan may lose more than $2 billion from its endowment by the end of the year -- another sign that the tightening economy is choking even the most robust funds.

Full-text article by Robin Erp is available via Freep.com, 12.18.08.

Princeton Settles Lawsuit Over $900 Million Endowment

Princeton University settled a lawsuit over an endowment valued in June at more than $900 million, ending a six-year dispute about how the money is spent.

Full-text article by Oliver Staley and Janet Frankston Lorin is available via Bloomberg, 12.10.08.

Education Endowment Studies Merge

Two top studies analyzing the performance and management of the endowments of U.S. colleges and universities will be combined.

The National Association of College and University Business Officers and the Commonfund Institute will publish the first combined study in January 2010, reflecting results for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2009.

The merger will create an improved tool for the higher-education community by providing more complete reporting and more accurate results, and will include data from nearly 1,000 institutions, says John Walda, president and CEO of NACUBO.

Full-text article available via Philanthropy Journal, 11.25.08.

Harvard Hit by Loss as Crisis Spreads to Colleges

Harvard University's endowment suffered investment losses of at least 22% in the first four months of the school's fiscal year, the latest evidence of the financial woes facing higher education.

Full-text article by John Hechinger and Craig Karmin is available via the Wall Street Journal, 12.4.08.

Colleges On Alert to Slow Spending

For Indiana University, hitting the financial turmoil of the past two months has been like a tanker truck hitting a patch of ice.

“If you slam on the brakes, you’re going to jackknife. But you can’t keep going at the same speed you were, obviously. So we’re really trying to feather the brakes,” said IU’s chief financial officer, Neil Theobald, during a break from a Nov. 19 meeting of IU’s trustees.

Full-text article by J.K. Wall is available via Indianapolis Business Journal, 11.22.08.

Not Many Speak Their Mind to Gates Foundation

With a $38 billion endowment that exceeds the gross domestic product (GDP) of most countries it helps — and another $30 billion pledged by investor Warren Buffett — the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has come to dominate the philanthropic world in the same way Microsoft towered over the software landscape.

But philanthropy experts and even some foundation leaders are uneasy with all the adulation.

Full-text article by Sandi Doughton is available via the Seattle Times, 8.3.08.

Entrusting Money to Duke Means Taking Ride to Bigger Returns

Duke University alumna Elizabeth Whitaker set up a trust that grew 5.5 percent in last year's first half. It rose 6.7 percent in the next six months after being tied to gains in the school's $5.9 billion endowment.

Under a new arrangement her trust's performance now matches returns posted by the endowment, which has outpaced mutual funds each year for a decade.

Full-text article by John Taddei via BloombergNews.com, 7.22.08.

Harvard President Defends Funding

In a sharp rejoinder to critics of massive university endowments, Harvard University president Drew Faust said that colleges must take a long view in managing their reserves to maintain their research ambitions and international standing.

"The endowments at Harvard and other great universities have created a system of higher education that is the envy of the world," she said in a speech during the university's commencement.

Full-text article by Peter Schworm is available via the Boston Globe, 6.6.08.

Commentary: College Alums Urged to Cut School Endowments from Wills

Financial adviser Christiane Delessert is starting to consider her own retirement. As one of her last professional goals in counseling clients, she's on a mission to get individuals to stop giving money to Harvard University.

In fact, she's challenging her clients to reconsider all of their donations, and to look at their personal legacy in a different light.

Full-text article by Chuck Jaffe is available via MarketWatch, 5.20.08.

Minnesota fundraising report finds nonprofits seeking $1.5 billion

For the first time since 1997, the Minnesota Council on Foundations has published a report on capital and endowment fundraising campaigns among the state's nonprofits.

The total for current campaigns: a hefty $1.5 billion, but more than half of the amount comes from two college campaigns.

Full-text report "Capital and Endowment Campaigns in Minnesota: 2007 - 2008" is available via The Minnesota Council of Foundations.

Minnesota Adopts Model Charitable Endowment and Investment Law

Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty signed the Uniform Prudent Management of Institutional Funds Act (UPMIFA) into law on April 10, allowing more flexibility in endowment spending policies for charitable organizations. The law will take effect on August 1 and replaces Minnesota's Uniform Management of Institutional Funds Act that has been in place since 1973.

Full-text article available via Faegre & Benson, LLP., 4.2008.

Big Spender: Endowments at Colleges and Universities

Congress is pressing the nation's colleges and universities to spend more of their endowment. Article is specifically focused on Princeton University's endowment. Corresponding data graphic outlines the richest institutions serving undergraduates - those with the largest endowment assets per student as per NACUBO.

Full-text article by Karen W. Arenson is available via The New York Times, 4.20.08.

When Strings Are Attached, Quirky Gifts Can Limit Universities

As the nation’s wealthiest colleges and universities report on their finances to Congress, seeking to head off federal requirements that they spend at least 5 percent of their ever-growing endowment income, new attention is being paid to how endowments are structured, and on the restrictions imposed by donors.

Full-text article by Karen W. Arenson is available via The New York Times, 4.13.08.

Leave Endowments Alone

Universities with endowments worth hundreds of millions of dollars, even billions, are sitting on them rather than using them to reduce tuitions, say some influential members of the U.S. Senate. They are threatening to force the colleges with the largest funds — perhaps the top 100 or so from the more than 4,000 two- and four-year institutions — to pay out 5% a year. The typical college now spends about 4% for various purposes.

Full-text article via USA Today, 3.27.08.

Public-University Foundations: A Sleeping Giant?

When the National Association of College and University Business Officers released its annual survey of university endowments last week, the top 20, as always, were dominated by private institutions. Indeed, only five public universities broke into the top 20.

How can that be when public universities educate 80 percent of American students, and so have a much bigger alumni base from which to draw donations? That was one of the questions debated by a panel of experts at a session this morning at a conference for leaders and chief executives of public-college foundations with assets above $100-million. The event was sponsored by the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges.

Full-text article by Jeffrey Selingo via the Chronicle of Higher Education, 2.1.08. [Subscription required.]

Colleges Saw Endowment Gains of 17.2 Percent Last Year but Don't Expect a Repeat

Colleges earned an average of 17.2 percent on their endowments in the 2007 fiscal year, impressive returns that could prove to be an important financial cushion against a possible recession.

The overall return for the fiscal year that ended June 30 was the highest in nearly a decade, according to the annual report released today by the National Association of College and University Business Officers in conjunction with TIAA-CREF Asset Management.

Full-text article by Goldie Blumenstyk is available via the Chronicle of Higher Education, 1.24.08. [Subscription required.]

College & University Endowments Database (FY1995 - FY2006) [Subscription to Chronicle of Higher Education required.]

Princeton University Issues Statement to Senate

Princeton University has submitted a written "statement for the record" to the U.S. Senate Finance Committee describing how it uses its endowment to support financial aid.

The statement is available via the Princeton University website.