Options for Endowment Investment Management

In a recent article in The New York Times author Geraldine Fabrikant described women's roles leading major charitable endowment funds at both universities and foundations. The article is quite interesting.

Of special note to all endowment major gift fundraisers were facts about university endowments. The median annual return for all university endowments was 17.5%. For endowments over $1 billion, the median return was 21.3%.

Several successful endowment managers have gone on to join or found foundation advisory investment firms. They may be worth checking out. They include:

• Botanica, led by Rosalie Wolf who ran the Rockefeller Foundation for 6 years
• Investure, a frim that now invests $6.5 billion for small endowments
• Aetos Capital with managing director Anne Casscells who had been chief investment officer at Stanford Management Company

These kinds of returns may not be possible this year of course (or in the future), but some of these investment firms may be worth checking out as they understand nonprofit values.

To see the full article, click here.

Tom Wilson
Author, Winning Gifts

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