Investment returns at college, university and foundation endowments roared back in fiscal 2010, according to data from NACUBO and Commonfund. Net returns for 2010 hit 11.9%, compared to negative 18.7% in 2009. All asset classes were in positive territory, with the exception of real estate.
The highest returns came from distressed debt (24.6%), followed by domestic equities (15.6%) and fixed income (12.2%). Private equity (non-real estate) came in at 14.1% while venture capital hit 9.1%. Allocations remained fairly static, with the largest shifts occurring within domestic equities (down from 18% to 15%) and international equities (up from 14% to 16%).
Alternative assets — most of which goes to hedge and other marketable strategies — continued to receive the highest average allocations, at 52%:
Larger institutions outperformed smaller ones, reversing results from last year that NACUBO-Commonfund referred to as an anomaly. But that doesn’t mean that all large endowments beat the survey’s average for increase in market value (8.4%, with a 7.4% median). Harvard University, for example, had the largest endowment at a whopping $27.54 billion — but that represented a 2010 growth rate of just 5.4%. Second-place finisher Yale was even weaker, at 2%.
Here’s the full Top 10:
- Harvard University: 5.4% increase to $27.54 billion
- Yale University: 2% to $16.33 billion
- Princeton University: 14.1% increase to $14.39 billion
- University of Texas: 15.5% to $14.05 billion
- Stanford University: 9.8% to $13.85 billion
- MIT: 5.5% to $8.32 billion
- University of Michigan: 9.4% to $6.56 billion
- Columbia University: 9.2% to $5.95 billion
- Northwestern: 9.2% to $5.95 billion
- Texas A&M: 12.9% to $5.74 billion