Publications

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 Its previous policy of avoiding the issue was quickly becoming outdated—$21 trillion of...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

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

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 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

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

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

March 2023
Supplement

Halftime for Heidelberg

By: Debora L. Spar

The case follows President Rob Huntington as he seeks to find a viable way forward for Heidelberg University.
Located in Tiffin, Ohio, Heidelberg is a small, private, four-year university. As with many similar institutions of higher education, it currently faces... View Details

Keywords: University; University Administration; University Endowment; Endowments; Brand Management; Higher Education; Strategic Planning; Brands and Branding; Education Industry; Ohio; United States

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

1993
Chapter

Optimal Investment Strategies for University Endowment Funds

By: Robert C. Merton

Keywords: Investment Funds; Financial Strategy; Higher Education; Non-Governmental Organizations; Education Industry; Financial Services Industry

August 2021
Teaching Note

Yale University Investments Office: November 2020

By: Josh Lerner

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 821-074. View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Private Equity; University Endowment; Asset Allocation; Connecticut

February 2020
Case

Halftime for Heidelberg

By: Debora L. Spar

The case follows President Rob Huntington as he seeks to find a viable way forward for Heidelberg University. Located in Tiffin, Ohio, Heidelberg is a small, private, four-year university. As with many similar institutions of higher education, it currently faces a... View Details

Keywords: University; University Administration; University Endowment; Endowments; Brand Management; Higher Education; Strategic Planning; Brands and Branding; Education Industry; Ohio

28 Sep 2021
News

Boston University Plans to Divest $2.4 Billion Endowment from Fossil Fuels

Summer 2008
Article

Secrets of the Academy: The Drivers of University Endowment Success

By: Josh Lerner, Antoinette Schoar and Jialan Wang

Keywords: Higher Education; Success

Find at Harvard

Awards

UPS Endowment Fund at Stanford University for “Immigrant Group Size and Immigrant Assimilation” (with Vasiliky Fouka and Kai Gehring)

By: Marco E. Tabellini

Recipient of a grant from the UPS Endowment Fund at Stanford University for “Immigrant Group Size and Immigrant Assimilation” (with Vasiliky Fouka and Kai Gehring) in 2018. View Details

01 Jun 1998
News

Simmons Family Endows Professorship

six Simmons siblings graduated from the University of Utah. Entrepreneurial Spirit Perseverance in the face of adversity and an entrepreneurial spirit are the hallmarks of the Simmons family's success. Roy Simmons was born in Portland,... View Details

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

01 Aug 1998
News

Spangler Family Gift Endows New Campus Center

C.D. ("Dick") Spangler, Jr. (MBA '56), the recently retired president of the University of North Carolina, has made a lifelong habit of answering what he terms "life's cold calls of responsibility." To a gathering of graduating HBS... View Details

Keywords: Nancy O. Perry

March 2021
Case

Yale Investments Office: November 2020

By: Josh Lerner, Jo Tango and Alys Ferragamo

David Swensen and the Investments Office staff must decide whether to continue to allocate the bulk of the university's endowment to illiquid investments—hedge funds, private equity, venture capital, real estate, natural resources—given the impact of the COVID-19... View Details

Keywords: University Endowment; Asset Allocation; Real Estate; Equities; Fixed Income; COVID-19; Asset Management; Private Equity; Venture Capital; Natural Resources; Resource Allocation; Investment; Investment Portfolio; Health Pandemics; Financial Crisis; Financial Services Industry; Real Estate Industry; Energy Industry; Connecticut