Publications

01 Dec 2011
News

Harvard Endowment Grows to $32 Billion

The Harvard endowment grew by 21.4 percent to $32 billion for the fiscal year ended June 30, up $4.4 billion from the year before, according to the annual report by Harvard Management Company. Every asset class advanced, led by a 34.6... View Details

Keywords: Endowment

June 2016 (Revised February 2017)
Case

The Role of Real Estate in Endowment Portfolios: The Case of Christ Church, Oxford

By: David Chambers, Elroy Dimson, Arthur I Segel and Eva Steiner

The case centers on Christ Church's Treasurer, James Lawrie, who is contemplating his options for investing a portion of the College's endowment in real estate. Approximately 1/3 of the total $690 million endowment was allocated towards real estate, much higher than... View Details

Keywords: Real Estate; Endowment Management; Endowments; United Kingdom; Oxford; Portfolio Allocation; Higher Education; Investment Portfolio; Property; Corporate Finance; Financial Services Industry; United Kingdom

June 2021
Case

Modern Endowment Management: Paula Volent and the Bowdoin Endowment

By: Luis M. Viceira, Emily R. McComb and Dean Xu

This case examines modern endowment investment management through the lens of a leadership transition between Chief Investment Officers (CIOs). In March 2021, Paula Volent is about to step down as the CIO of the endowment of Bowdoin College after twenty-one years, and... View Details

Keywords: Investment Portfolio; Investment Banking; Growth Management; Investment Return; Capital Markets; Interest Rates; Competition; Cost Management; Risk Management; Financial Liquidity; Performance Evaluation

August 2016
Teaching Note

The Role of Real Estate in Endowment Portfolios: The Case of Christ Church College

By: Arthur I. Segel and Alexander W. Schultz

The case centers on Christ Church’s Treasurer, James Lawrie, who is contemplating his options for investing a portion of the College’s endowment in real estate. Approximately 1/3 of the total $690 million endowment was allocated towards real estate, much higher than... View Details

Keywords: Portfolio Allocation; Oxford; England; Real Estate; University Endowment; Higher Education; Investment Portfolio; Property; Corporate Finance; Financial Services Industry; England

October 2020 (Revised February 2024)
Case

Divesting Harvard's Endowment

By: Daniel Green, Luis M. Viceira and Holly Fetter

By early 2020 Harvard University was facing growing pressure from students, faculty, and alumni to divest its $40 billion endowment of financial stakes in fossil fuel producers. Its previous policy of avoiding the issue was quickly becoming outdated—$21 trillion of... View Details

Keywords: Divestment; Harvard University; ESG; Higher Education; Investment Portfolio; Environmental Sustainability; Strategy; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact

01 Jun 2013
News

WSA Endows Fellowship

The HBS Women's Student Association (WSA) has endowed the Women's Student Association Fellowship, the first fellowship endowed by a student organization at HBS. The WSA Fellowship, established in 2008... View Details

Keywords: Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services

December 2006 (Revised December 2007)
Case

The Vanderbilt University Endowment (2006)

By: Andre F. Perold and William T. Spitz

As with many modern-day large pools of capital, the Vanderbilt University endowment is significantly invested in alternative assets such as hedge funds, private equity, real estate, and natural resources. The endowment's investment committee chair is attempting to... View Details

Keywords: Higher Education; Asset Management; Financial Management; Financial Strategy; Investment Portfolio; Risk Management

Awards

National Endowment for the Humanities Research Fellowship

By: Richard H.K. Vietor

Received the National Endowment for the Humanities Research Fellowship in 1977. View Details

February 2024
Teaching Note

Divesting Harvard's Endowment

By: Daniel Green and Luis M. Viceira

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 221-009. View Details

June 2022
Teaching Note

Modern Endowment Management: Paula Volent and the Bowdoin Endowment

By: Luis M. Viceira

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 211-101. View Details

October 2009 (Revised January 2010)
Case

The University of Notre Dame Endowment

By: Andre F. Perold and Paul Michael Buser

The Endowment Model of Investing, which was based on creating high risk-adjusted performance through diversification, a long time horizon, top-notch outside managers, and illiquid investments, had served Notre Dame and other large universities well over the past... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Higher Education; Asset Management; Private Equity; Financial Liquidity; Investment; Risk Management; Performance Evaluation; Education Industry; Financial Services Industry

01 Jun 1998
News

Simmons Family Endows Professorship

The only way to truly appreciate what you have is to work for it," says Roy W. Simmons, the 82-year-old chairman of Utah-based Zions Bancorporation, one of the most successful bank holding companies in the country. Simmons speaks from experience. From modest... View Details

25 Mar 2010
News

Dartmouth's Chief Tackles Endowment Hit With Tough Cuts

January 2002
Article

Organizational Endowments and the Performance of University Start-ups

By: Scott Shane and Toby E. Stuart

The question of how initial resource endowments—the stocks of resources that entrepreneurs contribute to their new ventures at the time of founding—affect organizational life chances is one of significant interest in organizational ecology, evolutionary... View Details

Keywords: Resource Allocation; Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Research; Company History; Initial Public Offering; Venture Capital; Financing and Loans

Find at Harvard

01 Mar 2003
News

Three Appointed to Endowed Professorships

Paul A. Gompers, Roy and Elizabeth Simmons Professor of Business Administration Paul Gompers specializes in research on financial issues related to start-up, high growth, and newly public companies. A member of both the Finance and the Entrepreneurial Management units,... View Details

Keywords: fellowships; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services

17 Sep 2008
Working Paper Summaries

Secrets of the Academy: The Drivers of University Endowment Success

Keywords: by Josh Lerner, Antoinette Schoar & Jialan Wang; Education

01 Jun 2018
News

How Does the HBS Endowment Work?

The HBS endowment consists of 1,000+ funds established over more than a century. These funds play a key role in sustaining the School’s core priorities. The $3.5 billion HBS endowment represents 9 percent of... View Details

Article

Money is No Object: Testing The Endowment Effect in Exchange Goods

By: Dan Svirsky

We present a new experimental design to test whether the endowment effect exists for exchange goods, like money. We compare three groups to a baseline: one endowed with money, one endowed with chocolate coins, and one endowed with chocolate coins described as "tokens."... View Details

Keywords: Perception; Valuation; Goods and Commodities; Attitudes