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Answers
What is an endowment fund?
A permanent pool of donated money that an institution invests and spends from each year. The goal is to fund the institution forever, so it spends only part of each year's value and reinvests the rest.
Which university has the largest endowment?
Harvard. Its endowment was valued at $56.9bn at 30 June 2025, after an 11.9% return for the year. Yale was second in the US at $44.1bn.
How much do endowments spend each year?
Many target around 5% of market value. Harvard says its annual payout is generally 5%, and its payout rate in FY2025 was 5.0%. Each profile shows the institution's own figure.
When do university endowments report results?
Most US universities end their fiscal year on 30 June and publish results in the autumn. Harvard and Yale both reported FY2025 results in October 2025.
Do endowments invest with outside managers?
Many do. Yale, for example, invests across asset classes through external investment managers it selects. Each profile says what the institution has disclosed about its manager model.
What is the endowment tax?
A US federal excise tax on the net investment income of some private college and university endowments. Yale's newspaper reported an 8% tax on Yale's endowment returns starting 1 July 2026. Rates depend on the institution, so check each profile.
Is an endowment value the same as its return?
No. The value is what the fund is worth on a date. The return is the percentage gain over a year. Value also moves with gifts and with what the institution spends.
