Update on Endowment - up to $390M

[J187Money]

Today I shared our final fiscal year 2015 fundraising totals with the Foundation Board and University Board of Trustees and I write to share that information with you as well. Thanks to your generosity, we reached a closing total of $77,993,764 in contributions and pledged commitments.

Many of you supported our new Transform Lives scholarship initiative, which publicly launched in January. The goal is to raise $150 million over five years—effectively doubling the amount available for scholarships and student support. This past fiscal year, an additional 500 donors supported scholarships!

Here's how the fundraising numbers break down for FY 15:

• $20.6 million in support of capital improvements
• $16.3 million for scholarship and student support
• $26.3 million for program support
• $5.2 million for faculty support
• $9.6 million for research

All told, of the $78 million in commitments this past fiscal year, $58 million was designated for current operations and $20 million was earmarked for the endowment. Our total endowment now stands at nearly $390 million.

If you'd like to learn more about the Foundation's fundraising and how your gifts are building a stronger UConn Nation, please visit our website. On the website, you can also find detailed information about the Foundation's public disclosures.



Thank you for your support!

Joshua R. Newton
President & CEO
UConn Foundation

 

[UConn9604]

All told, of the $78 million in commitments this past fiscal year, $58 million was designated for current operations and $20 million was earmarked for the endowment.

What does this sentence (above) mean?

 

[mets1090]

What does this sentence (above) mean?

The endowment is basically a big pile of money that gets invested long term while the $58 million will be actively spent in the short term on scholarships, research, campus improvements, etc. Bigger endowment = more returns = more consistent budgets and all that jazz.

 

[UConn9604]

The endowment is basically a big pile of money that gets invested long term while the $58 million will be actively spent in the short term on scholarships, research, campus improvements, etc. Bigger endowment = more returns = more consistent budgets and all that jazz.

Oh, I understand that - but it looks like for every $8 we raise, we're spending $6 on day-to-day stuff and saving only $2. That's a great investment for the University (which only kicks in about $9 million and gets about 8 1/2 times that) but the endowment isn't going to grow quickly if we're only adding $20 million to it from current-year contributions.

 

[mets1090]

Oh, I understand that - but it looks like for every $8 we raise, we're spending $6 on day-to-day stuff and saving only $2. That's a great investment for the University (which only kicks in about $9 million and gets about 8 1/2 times that) but the endowment isn't going to grow quickly if we're only adding $20 million to it from current-year contributions.

Well the money for day to day stuff has to come from somewhere. If you put more towards the endowment... how are you paying for the rest of your day to day stuff without cutting programs/scholarships/etc? I do get what you're saying though. I just don't know if there's a clear answer besides the obvious - get more/bigger donors.

Edit: I also have no idea what the standard split is for donations spent vs donations saved towards an endowment. Obviously schools with massive endowments can pretty much self sustain on their investments and it turns into a rich get richer situation. UConn is in the middle of expanding the campus and growing the enrollment totals so it's possible we're just in a spot where we need to spend more.

 

[Drew]

UConn Today article on the endowment increase: http://today.uconn.edu/2015/08/uconn-foundation-raises-78-million-in-fy-2015/

 

[CL82]

By way of comparison Rutgers raised $187.9M - Link

I think they have been over $100M for at least past 3-4 years and perhaps longer.

 

[UConn9604]

By way of comparison Rutgers raised $187.9M - Link

I think they over $100M for at least past 3-4 years and perhaps longer.

They have about twice as many alumni as we do, but I sure would like to crack the century club.

Any idea how much of their annual take goes to operations (a figure like our $58 vs. $78)?

 

[163husky]

Today I shared our final fiscal year 2015 fundraising totals with the Foundation Board and University Board of Trustees and I write to share that information with you as well. Thanks to your generosity, we reached a closing total of $77,993,764 in contributions and pledged commitments.

Many of you supported our new Transform Lives scholarship initiative, which publicly launched in January. The goal is to raise $150 million over five years—effectively doubling the amount available for scholarships and student support. This past fiscal year, an additional 500 donors supported scholarships!

Here's how the fundraising numbers break down for FY 15:

• $20.6 million in support of capital improvements
• $16.3 million for scholarship and student support
• $26.3 million for program support
• $5.2 million for faculty support
• $9.6 million for research

All told, of the $78 million in commitments this past fiscal year, $58 million was designated for current operations and $20 million was earmarked for the endowment. Our total endowment now stands at nearly $390 million.

If you'd like to learn more about the Foundation's fundraising and how your gifts are building a stronger UConn Nation, please visit our website. On the website, you can also find detailed information about the Foundation's public disclosures.



Thank you for your support!

Joshua R. Newton
President & CEO
UConn Foundation

I thought it (the endowment) was making better progress than that. Not where it needs to be, but better. "UCONN Foundation 2014 Endowment Report" for FY 2014, posted on the foundation website, states "net assets, end of year" of $436.9 million. If I do a web search for UCONN endowment I get Wikipedia with the same figure. So, I'm thinking $436.9 million is the number, plus $20 million from this FY15 fundraising, plus whatever investment return the foundation earned in FY15 (prior year was just over 11%; likely less this year as the market did only about half as well) so, maybe another $20-$25 million. So, I'm figuring $475-$480 million all in, minimum. I don't get the $390 million figure.

 

[Excalibur]

If the endowment is even somewhat competently managed, the investment gains alone should put us over $400 Million in 2016, though some portion of that does get allocated to current projects.

In 2014, the endowment's return was over 12 percent.

In 2014, the split between current support and endowment funds was $49 Million/$33 Million

 

[CL82]

They have about twice as many alumni as we do, but I sure would like to crack the century club.

Any idea how much of their annual take goes to operations (a figure like our $58 vs. $78)?

No, I just noticed the headline this morning.

Quick comparison:

RU Alumni

• More than 460,000 alumni live in all 50 states and on six continents
• About two-thirds of alumni live in New Jersey

UConn Alumni

• Nearly 223,000 total alumni worldwide.
• More than 126,000 alumni live in Connecticut.​

Detailed information on the foundation

Good 2015 fact sheet on the university

Keep in mind that UConn has seen three state funding initiatives since 2000 which total just shy of $5 billion. It's not a popular metric but I'd suggest that legislative commitment to (and history of) investment in the university is, practically speaking, more valuable than a more sizable endowment.

Heh, heh, heh. You said sizable endowment.​

 

[The Viking]

Is it possible that the state cuts to UConn the past few months forced them to use the donation money differently than they otherwise would?

 

[J187Money]

Here is how it works:

The endowment is made up of lots of specific funds and probably a few general funds. Money that is pledged to those funds (e.g. the NYC Alumni Association Chapter Scholarship fund) can only be used for that purpose. The principal in the endowment funds never get touched, and the only thing that can be spent is from the earnings, which is usually something like a 5.25% per year. So $100K endowment for a scholarship would yield $5K/year of payouts. The assumption being that the long-term rate of return should ~= or better the spending rate.

When someone from the foundation calls you, or you give to your school, your money usually ends up going to current use. It only goes to the endowment portion if you so instruct them. Most of the large gifts end up going to one of two places - a specific use in the endowment, or to some specific project (like the BB center).

In order to create an endowed fund, you need to raise $50K over 5 years. Otherwise the money reverts to the general fund. In the example of the NYC Alumni Chapter fund, we had the parent of a student pledge $25K, and the BoD of the NYC Chapter as a group matched her donation to get to the $50K. As that fund grows, more and more money will go to NYC kids that want to go to UCONN.

 

[Drew]

Here is how it works:

The endowment is made up of lots of specific funds and probably a few general funds. Money that is pledged to those funds (e.g. the NYC Alumni Association Chapter Scholarship fund) can only be used for that purpose. The principal in the endowment funds never get touched, and the only thing that can be spent is from the earnings, which is usually something like a 5.25% per year. So $100K endowment for a scholarship would yield $5K/year of payouts. The assumption being that the long-term rate of return should ~= or better the spending rate.

When someone from the foundation calls you, or you give to your school, your money usually ends up going to current use. It only goes to the endowment portion if you so instruct them. Most of the large gifts end up going to one of two places - a specific use in the endowment, or to some specific project (like the BB center).

In order to create an endowed fund, you need to raise $50K over 5 years. Otherwise the money reverts to the general fund. In the example of the NYC Alumni Chapter fund, we had the parent of a student pledge $25K, and the BoD of the NYC Chapter as a group matched her donation to get to the $50K. As that fund grows, more and more money will go to NYC kids that want to go to UCONN.

So what you're saying is we need to collect 50k in donations towards an on campus football stadium

 

[MASSconn]

Laughable numbers


Feel like the B1G won't even consider us till we hit $500 million

Pump the numbers UConn Foundation

 

[J187Money]

Laughable numbers


Feel like the B1G won't even consider us till we hit $500 million

Pump the numbers UConn Foundation

Long way to go, but moving in the right direction. At least there is a focus on it now.

 

[huskyinfl]

Can't they link up with Steve Cohen type advisors and turn that into billions

 

[coachcap]

In the Connecticut section of Saturday's Hartford Courant was an article on a $ 4Million donation to the UConn Human Rights Institute that requires the UConn Foundation to raise an additional $ 2 Million in matching funds. At the end of the article was this tidbit:
"Brian Otis, vice president for development at the UConn Foundation, the university's fundraising arm, said the gift is one of several seven-figure gifts made in the second quarter of a fiscal year that started July 1. He said the foundation has had the best mid-year fundraising report in 15 years, with a total of $ 50 million in gift commitments.
He said that UConn's endowment is up to $ 380 million. The foundation aims to have in cross the half-billion dollar mark in the near future with a long range target of $ 1 Billion."

 

[CTMike]

Great news, great progress!

 

[huskypantz]

Something's wrong there. The 2014 EOY report stated that endowment was 376.3 million. $380 million would be bad news.

http://www.foundation.uconn.edu/abo...ation/2014-uconn-foundation-endowment-report/

 

[Palatine]

Something's wrong there. The 2014 EOY report stated that endowment was 376.3 million. $380 million would be bad news.

http://www.foundation.uconn.edu/abo...ation/2014-uconn-foundation-endowment-report/

Depending how much of the endowment is in the stock market, the last few months have been brutal.

On the upside only 25 billion to go to catch Yale.

 

[coachcap]

The last figure that I had heard last summer was that it was at $ 330 million, so $ 50 million addition would be correct at $ 380 million.

 

[Sportsman5]

Money gets spent from the endowment, so the net may be only 3.7 million

 

[Da_Aisijimo_Gou]

More recent 2015 Foundation Report released in December (FY-ending June 30): http://www.foundation.uconn.edu/2015/12/08/the-fy15-uconn-foundation-annual-report/

 

[superjohn]

It's amazing to me how low UConn's endowment has been all these years.