Endowments back in the black: but gains are modest, at best.Can it be that the downward endowment A transfer, generally as a gift, of money or property to an institution for a particular purpose. The bestowal of money as a permanent fund, the income of which is to be used for the benefit of a charity, college, or other institution. trend is over? Commonfund Institute (www.commonfund.org See .org. (networking) org - The top-level domain for organisations or individuals that don't fit any other top-level domain (national, com, edu, or gov). Though many have .org domains, it was never intended to be limited to non-profit organisations. RFC 1591. ), which conducts regular benchmark studies on endowment performance, reports that educational endowments gained a modest 2.9 percent average for the fiscal year ending June June: see month. 2003. While that's not great news, it is certainly better than the 5.9 percent average loss reported for fiscal year 2002. Of the 122 colleges and universities surveyed, the smallest institutions made the largest gains. Defined as IHEs with endowments valued at $10 million or less, these smaller schools experienced a 4.7 percent average gain. The largest institutions--those with assets of $1 billion or more--gained 2.3 percent, on average. Of course, Commonfund Executive Director John Griswold sees this as a sign that "endowments of U.S. educational institutions have turned the corner." Perhaps so, but gains will have to be greater than 2.9 percent to cover the average 4 to 5 percent spending rate to cover all sorts of initiatives, grants, and scholarships. New investment strategies--including a reallocation Noun 1. reallocation - a share that has been allocated again allocation, allotment - a share set aside for a specific purpose 2. reallocation of assets and more reliance on hedge funds hedge fund, in finance, a highly speculative, largely unregulated investment device. Originating in the 1950s, the funds "hedge" by offsetting "short" positions (borrowing a security and then selling it at a higher price before repaying the lender) against "long" and real estate--boosted performance, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. the interim report. Commonfund's report for the calendar year will be released in early 2004. 51% of schools have changed the way their assets are allocated, compared to 29% in last year's interim report. Percentage of assets invested in domestic equities: 50% Fixed income: 29% International equity: 10% Alternative assets, including hedge funds: 11% |
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