2014 University Endowment Rankings

[MattMang23]

It doesn't matter how old the article is. I told the Michigan fan that Rutgers does a lot of screwy stuff with numbers. I didn't say these numbers. I said it as a matter of historical fact. Unless you're trying to claim the article is factually wrong, you don't have much of an argument here. Rutgers is known to play around with numbers.

Again, try following along.

 

[Rinaldi]

It doesn't matter how old the article is. I told the Michigan fan that Rutgers does a lot of screwy stuff with numbers. I didn't say these numbers. I said it as a matter of historical fact. Unless you're trying to claim the article is factually wrong, you don't have much of an argument here. Rutgers is known to play around with numbers.

Again, try following along.

"It doesn't matter how old the article is." ...actually, it does matter.

 

[Da_Aisijimo_Gou]

Considering that the Dow went up by about 22 1/2% from Jan. 1, 2013, to Jan. 1, 2014, yeah.

That's a way to look at the 2014 growth in UCONN's endowment, but how many endowments, foundations, non-profit portfolios, etc. are you familiar with which invest a large chunk of their assets directly in equities? Here's a link to a Courant graph and another to the actual UCONN Foundation's 2014 Endowment Report showing total assets of $489 million. Unfortunately, at least the Courant graph does not define currently how "Investments" are directly invested.

Added 2/17/15 Courant article, UConn Not Ready To Embrace Endowments For Coaches

 

[Ldandy]

Growing up, the culture was "I've paid enough I'm not giving back a dime."... I think that idea starts in undergrad and it's hard to change afterward - but, change it must. I get the impression that it's slightly better, but it's gotta keep pushing, pushing, pushing.

Unfortunately there are generations of grads who feel that way, and the ONLY way to improve that is personal connections. Mailings will work up to a point, but it's not good enough. It's about networking and making a personal connection about what they valued about their time at UConn. I'm sure this is nothing the Foundation doesn't understand, but now they need the conviction (and manpower) to make those calls. Work folks at events. Reconnect.

I guess the question I have is why was that the culture growing up? I can understand the arguement some are making that being in a G5 Conference is hurting donations, but what about all of the schools on this list that don't play sports above a D3 Level?

It seems to me like a fundamental failure by whomever has been running your donation campaigns. I understand that you recently hired a fundraiser from Emory University who did great things there, clearly your administration identified the problem and has taken proactive steps to address it.

I'm not posting the following link to brag about my university, but to show that raising tremendous amounts of money through a well run capital campaign is entirely possible. The results of PSU's "For the future." campaign were staggering. http://news.psu.edu/story/311758/20...eeds-goal-raises-2158-billion-private-support

 

[MattMang23]

"It doesn't matter how old the article is." ...actually, it does matter.

No.

When talking about a school's past history of manipulating money, and numbers, it really doesn't matter that the article is three years old because IT SHOWS A DEMONSTRATED HISTORY OF MANIPULATING NUMBERS.

How dense are you people?

 

[specialisthusky]

No.

When talking about a school's past history of manipulating money, and numbers, it really doesn't matter that the article is three years old because IT SHOWS A DEMONSTRATED HISTORY OF MANIPULATING NUMBERS.

How ing dense are you people?

Its not worth explaining to them if they can't already grasp the point.

 

[MattMang23]

Its not worth explaining to them if they can't already grasp the point.

Yeah, I think I quit before it takes a toll on my view of the intelligence of the human race.

 

[CTMike]

I guess the question I have is why was that the culture growing up? I can understand the arguement some are making that being in a G5 Conference is hurting donations, but what about all of the schools on this list that don't play sports above a D3 Level?

It seems to me like a fundamental failure by whomever has been running your donation campaigns. I understand that you recently hired a fundraiser from Emory University who did great things there, clearly your administration identified the problem and has taken proactive steps to address it.

I'm not posting the following link to brag about my university, but to show that raising tremendous amounts of money through a well run capital campaign is entirely possible. The results of PSU's "For the future." campaign were staggering. http://news.psu.edu/story/311758/20...eeds-goal-raises-2158-billion-private-support

This is just my personal experience, but I worked at Wesleyan University during summers/breaks in the mid-late 90s in their annual giving office. The idea of a senior class gift was a big thing there, even then - it really sets the tone for new grads. Not to mention all their other alumni engagement efforts. Whereas at UConn (I graduated in 01), I think the concept of a senior class gift would result in people looking at you like you had 3 heads. Calls/mailings to alumni are disjointed. These are more deep-rooted things than recent G5 affiliation (though I'm sure that may play a small part today).

At any rate, I have faith that Newton gets it, there's just decades of negative momentum that he needs to turn around.

 

[Kolumbo]

I am not sure I understand how the size of the endowment directly affects anything. Wouldn't it matter more how much capital is flowing in and out every year? Is it related to the size of the state for public universities? Michigan = $10 billion. Michigan State = $2 billion. Rutgers = $900k. UCONN $400k.

Also, if people in CT feel they are paying outrageous taxes for everything, why would they donate to the state?

 

[UConn9604]

That's a way to look at the 2014 growth in UCONN's endowment, but how many endowments, foundations, non-profit portfolios, etc. are you familiar with which invest a large chunk of their assets in equities?

Candidly, I have no idea where the $380 million or so is invested.

Also, one way to look at the size of the increase is to think that maintaining a $760 million endowment probably requires the same overhead as maintaining a $380 million endowment. Assume it's $10 million a year; if each has the same percent returns on investment (say, 10%), our net growth is going to look comparatively smaller ($28 million net, or 7.4%, versus $68 million net, or almost 9%).

 

[CTMike]

That's a way to look at the 2014 growth in UCONN's endowment, but how many endowments, foundations, non-profit portfolios, etc. are you familiar with which invest a large chunk of their assets in equities?

Probably not much, but our increase compared most of the rest of the schools seems to be lagging.

 

[Rinaldi]

No.

When talking about a school's past history of manipulating money, and numbers, it really doesn't matter that the article is three years old because IT SHOWS A DEMONSTRATED HISTORY OF MANIPULATING NUMBERS.

How ing dense are you people?

Pretty dense, thanks for asking. My point is past behavior may not always be predictive of future behavior. Heck, have it your way. I don't have a horse in the race.......

 

[frankthetank]

Using my personal experience UConn's outreach to alumni has been totally lame in the past. Their ability to identify and cultivate medium sized potential donors has been non existent from what I can see. I am not a billionaire by any means, but had a very successful career in finance after completing my MBA at NYU. Most people are more likely to donate to their undergraduate alma mater than their graduate school. In my case it is just the opposite. I have never been approached by anyone from UConn, I get the annual mailings, while NYU is in contact with me on a regular basis. The net result is that I have made small contributions to UConn from time to time, while my cumulative giving to NYU is approaching six figures. Hell I hear more from the private schools and colleges my kids attended than I do from UConn.

A lot of of public universities have this issue. My undergrad alma mater (University of Illinois) has one of the better public university endowments in the country, yet their overall fundraising approach pales in comparison to the regular shakedowns in all forms of communication that I receive from my law school alma mater (DePaul). Part of it is culture - private schools (many of which have religious connections) simply aren't shy whatsoever about asking for money constantly and regularly (akin to tithing). Meanwhile, public universities have to fight the perception that all in-state residents are already giving them money in the form of taxes (which anyone that pays attention to higher education ought to realize is a misguided perception with how much public funding has been cut over the past 15 years, but it's still there).

Note that the endowments for the vast majority of schools aren't really tied that much to athletics. Texas and Texas A&M are in an entirely different category altogether because they were granted land ownership and oil/mineral rights to vast tracts of state land back in the late-1800s via the statutory Permanent University Fund. Those grants of land associated oil/mineral rights have turned out to be worth billions upon billions of dollars over 100 years later, which is why now they have the top 2 public university endowments. Many of the SEC schools with rabid football fan bases don't have the largest endowments, either. The public universities that have the largest endowments tend to be the ones with the strongest engineering/science/medical research functions (see how Pitt ranks higher than Penn State and Purdue ranks higher than Indiana despite PSU and IU having much stronger athletic fan bases compared to their in-state rivals). That's highly correlated with P5 membership because P5 members tend to be large research institutions, but historic power conference membership isn't the primary *cause* of larger endowments. It certainly helps, but not nearly as much as having a strong engineering program or medical school (or simply being made of a lot of old money like UVA).

That being said, I'm extremely surprised by UConn's low endowment compared to a lot of other public universities. It can't be passed off as supposedly a Northeastern regional phenomenon of not supporting public universities (whether it's sports or academics) because schools like UMass, SUNY Buffalo, New Hampshire and Vermont all have larger endowments than UConn. UConn is a better undergrad institution than all of those schools while having the wealthiest state population base in the country, so it certainly isn't due to the success of their alumni. That points to UConn definitely underachieving on the fundraising front (and it doesn't have anything to do with athletics, as you guys should definitely be doing better than SUNY Buffalo regardless of whether you're in the AAC).

 

[UConn9604]

That being said, I'm extremely surprised by UConn's low endowment compared to a lot of other public universities. It can't be passed off as supposedly a Northeastern regional phenomenon of not supporting public universities (whether it's sports or academics) because schools like UMass, SUNY Buffalo, New Hampshire and Vermont all have larger endowments than UConn. UConn is a better undergrad institution than all of those schools while having the wealthiest state population base in the country, so it certainly isn't due to the success of their alumni. That points to UConn definitely underachieving on the fundraising front (and it doesn't have anything to do with athletics, as you guys should definitely be doing better than SUNY Buffalo regardless of whether you're in the AAC).

Regrettably, it's something that just never became a priority until relatively recently. The alumni association was founded by some of the university's (the agricultural school's) first alumni in the late 1880s, but the foundation wasn't founded until 1964, and was not an institutional priority until the mid-1990s.

We're in a fight against the time value of money, down by about three TDs in the fourth quarter.

 

[pj]

That being said, I'm extremely surprised by UConn's low endowment compared to a lot of other public universities. It can't be passed off as supposedly a Northeastern regional phenomenon of not supporting public universities (whether it's sports or academics) because schools like UMass, SUNY Buffalo, New Hampshire and Vermont all have larger endowments than UConn. UConn is a better undergrad institution than all of those schools while having the wealthiest state population base in the country, so it certainly isn't due to the success of their alumni. That points to UConn definitely underachieving on the fundraising front (and it doesn't have anything to do with athletics, as you guys should definitely be doing better than SUNY Buffalo regardless of whether you're in the AAC).

It is surprising but in line with other southern New England state universities. UMass has a $767 endowment but they have five state universities compared to UConn's one, and the state has almost double UConn's population. URI has a $122 million endowment and one-third Connecticut's population. So the endowment to population ratio is similar in all 3 states. It is really a matter of the historic emphasis on private universities here, leading to underinvestment in the public universities -- they were safety schools for inferior students, by and large, and the power brokers did not feel a need to invest in them. That started changing with the exponential growth of tuition starting about 30 years ago, pulling intelligent middle class kids into the state schools.

 

[Da_Aisijimo_Gou]

... I'm extremely surprised by UConn's low endowment compared to a lot of other public universities. It can't be passed off as supposedly a Northeastern regional phenomenon of not supporting public universities (whether it's sports or academics) because schools like UMass, SUNY Buffalo, New Hampshire and Vermont all have larger endowments than UConn. UConn is a better undergrad institution than all of those schools while having the wealthiest state population base in the country, so it certainly isn't due to the success of their alumni. That points to UConn definitely underachieving on the fundraising front (and it doesn't have anything to do with athletics, as you guys should definitely be doing better than SUNY Buffalo regardless of whether you're in the AAC).

As stated or suggested previously in this message thread, it might be challenging to raise money when a university doesn't cultivate relationships, follow up, build relationships, follow up, ask, follow up, build relationships, etc. Yes, each of the cited schools pales in comparison with UCONN. Yes, UCONN dramatically underachieved in fundraising and management for far too long. Apparently, that's changing under far more proactive university and foundation leadership.

 

[ruthetiger]

It doesn't matter how old the article is. I told the Michigan fan that Rutgers does a lot of screwy stuff with numbers. I didn't say these numbers. I said it as a matter of historical fact. Unless you're trying to claim the article is factually wrong, you don't have much of an argument here. Rutgers is known to play around with numbers.

Again, try following along.

You're still grasping at straws.

 

[ruthetiger]

Yeah, I think I quit before it takes a toll on my view of the intelligence of the human race.

I'm sure it does. Trying to relate2 mutually exclusive events will do that to you.

 

[ruthetiger]

"It doesn't matter how old the article is." ...actually, it does matter.

I think we're going to lose this argument on this board, however, in light of the present situations, my suggestion is we can take this over to the NAM board to find the relationship between the two, unless they regard this as extraneous.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Alumni that I know living in CT do not answer the phone when UConn calls. I have asked why that it is. The problem I see is that success breeds success. They do not want to give unless success is guaranteed. If UConn was in a P5, the endowment would grow by leaps and bounds. With UConn in the situation it is, and the perceived (please don't take it out on me), inaction in CR, not to mention the ACC snub, people don't want to give what they can and should. They don't want to throw money away on a perceived lost cause. Despite what you all say, that trip to the VI was devastating, if not in reality, but in perception. I think that there is a lack of confidence that our leaders will lead us to the P5 and UConn can hire 10 guys from Emory and it is not going to make a great difference. It is a long way from #211 to the B1G.

I don't answer the phone when UConn calls. Or Kansas. Or BC. Or Maryland. Loyola New Orleans doesn't call, since my wife transferred to BC. Those are the five schools we attended.

Endowments grew large at many schools in an era where people were able to relatively quickly earn more than college cost them. Today, you've got student loans crippling people for a decade after school. Then they've got kids perhaps, a mortgage etc. In my case, with a soon to be 13 year old daughter, even though I make good money, I don't want her saddled with student loans, so I have to find a way to come up with what will probably be at least $200,000. Do you really think I want to send money to a school that will turn around and give some of it to somebody else to lessen their burden? No chance. I give to charities, to help those truly in need or cure diseases etc. I don't trust these schools to wisely determine where the money goes, not at all.

 

[Kolumbo]

In case you haven't already seen this:
http://www.hartfordbusiness.com/art...ON/312129944/uconns-billion-dollar-pied-piper

 

[Huskybite]

I don't answer the phone when UConn calls. Or Kansas. Or BC. Or Maryland. Loyola New Orleans doesn't call, since my wife transferred to BC. Those are the five schools we attended.

Endowments grew large at many schools in an era where people were able to relatively quickly earn more than college cost them. Today, you've got student loans crippling people for a decade after school. Then they've got kids perhaps, a mortgage etc. In my case, with a soon to be 13 year old daughter, even though I make good money, I don't want her saddled with student loans, so I have to find a way to come up with what will probably be at least $200,000. Do you really think I want to send money to a school that will turn around and give some of it to somebody else to lessen their burden? No chance. I give to charities, to help those truly in need or cure diseases etc. I don't trust these schools to wisely determine where the money goes, not at all.

You are not alone in this. I feel your pain

 

[Seaa Blue]

Big Ten: Why is Rutgers behind in the fundraising game?

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2014/09/big_ten_why_is_rutgers_behind_in_the_fundraising_game.html

 

[WestHartHusk]

In case you haven't already seen this:
http://www.hartfordbusiness.com/art...ON/312129944/uconns-billion-dollar-pied-piper

What is interesting is that this article states that as of December 2013, UConn Foundation had 459m in endowment and assets. Are we accounting for things differently than other schools again? We seem to always do this, to our detriment (at least perception wise).

 

[MattMang23]

What is interesting is that this article states that as of December 2013, UConn Foundation had 459m in endowment and assets. Are we accounting for things differently than other schools again? We seem to always do this, to our detriment (at least perception wise).

According to the contract Jeff Hathaway wrote, we had to pay PPs buyout out of the endowment. This happened right around that time. That probably accounted for the loss.

 

[Da_Aisijimo_Gou]

"Donors to the University of Connecticut set a new record for charitable giving in fiscal 2014, making gifts and commitments totaling $81.1 million, a 28.1 percent increase over the preceding year and the highest level of giving to the University in the 50-year history of the UConn Foundation."

No idea what occurred in 2013 nor whether the December 2013 Hartford business publication reported entirely accurate information, but the UCONN Foundation's website provides substantial transparency with detailed financial information. For example, the link enables you to access the Foundation's 2014 financial statement, a previously referenced 2014 Endowment Report (Courant graph link above), its' 2014 IRS 990 tax form, Endowed Fund Spending, and tax and legal information. In addition, this linked Investment Policy & Guidelines provides some insight on its' portfolio allocation. The UCONN Foundation Endowment Report 2014 reports Total Assets of $489 million and total "Investment" assets of $413 million.

 

[Yawkey Way]

I was very surprised to find out that Connecticut is not one of the states with a large percentage of native born residing in the state.

The percentage of folks residing in Connecticut that were born in the state is essentially the same as that of Florida and California.

.

No ... this is not accurate at all. ( Source... US Census, enclosed below )

Florida has the lowest percentage of its current residents that were born in Florida than any other of the 50 states except for Nevada. Over half ( 55% ) of the current residents of Connecticut were born in Connecticut, about the national average of other states ( 58%). Only about a third ( 35% ) of the current residents of Florida however were born in Florida. Florida in 2014 surpassed New York in population for the first time. It is expected that the huge population increases expected in the state of Florida over the next 2 decades will decrease this 35% figure even more dramatically.

http://www.census.gov/prod/2011pubs/acsbr10-07.pdf

 

[Da_Aisijimo_Gou]

No ... this is not accurate at all. ( Source... US Census, enclosed below )

Shocking as it is for a bosox fan ^, and even more surprising for a bcu guy, he occasionally proves a slight bit useful. No doubt, billybud's suggestion regarding typical residents of The Land of Steady Habits was way off the mark.

 

[Adios]

It really seems that UCONN needs to do something to become relevant on Wall Street. It is the one nearby source to tap that has unlimited potential.

They hire UConn business administration graduates.

UConn had 34,000 applicants for the Class of 2019. Only 10% will be accepted for Storrs. What a long way the school has come.

http://www.hartfordbusiness.com/article/20150225/NEWS01/150229961

 

[John Greene]

They hire UConn business administration graduates.

UConn had 34,000 applicants for the Class of 2019. Only 10% will be accepted for Storrs. What a long way the school has come.

http://www.hartfordbusiness.com/article/20150225/NEWS01/150229961

Not quite correct. In order to "enroll" 3400 freshmen Uconn will probably "accept" between 10-12,000 for Storrs. Uconn's overall rate of acceptance has been about 50% in recent years. All schools accept way more than they enroll (well maybe not Harvard, Yale, Princeton, & a few others) in order to allow for those applicants who for one reason or another decide not to attend. With the average high school senior applying to around 6 schools a significant percentage of most school's acceptances do not result in enrollments.