Key facts

Reported value

USD 1.26 billion

As of

June 30, 2025

Portfolio

Pooled endowment

Location

Lewisburg, PA

Spending policy

4.5% on the stated policy base

Data through FY2025

Balance reference

Endowment size and reporting scope

An endowment can contain many individual accounts with different donor purposes. Investing them together changes how assets are managed, while the accounts continue to record each beneficiary's interest. The market value of a pooled vehicle can also include reserves or other long-term funds. An endowment balance, a managed pool and total organizational assets can consequently differ even when all figures are reported accurately. Survey scope and definitions

The official USD 1,260.000 million figure and the FY2025 survey's USD 1,263.318 million describe their respective dates and reporting categories. The official balance retains its stated label, endowment, rounded official value. A change in currency, period or included accounts can produce a different total; the figures are presented separately. Official financial scope

Source: NACUBO · Data through FY2025

The FY2025 survey value for Bucknell University is USD 1,263.318 million, compared with USD 1,167.275 million for FY2024. The USD 96.043 million movement is 8.23% of the earlier balance. It includes changes in investments as well as additions and distributions. NACUBO explicitly distinguishes this change in market value from an investment rate of return. FY2025 respondent values and definitions

The available history begins in FY2016 at USD 722.425 million and ends in FY2025 at USD 1,263.318 million. The change across those observations is USD 540.893 million. The smallest reported balance in the displayed series is USD 722.425 million in FY2016; the largest is USD 1,263.318 million in FY2025. These are closing asset values. They do not show how much of a year's movement came from new gifts, spending or investment results. NACUBO historical workbook

Investment returns

Performance report

Fee basis: Net investment returns.

A trailing multi-year return is an annualized compound result over the period shown. The one-year figure covers the final year. These periods overlap, so their returns are not added. A published dollar investment gain can reflect accounting categories and cash flows that differ from the percentage performance calculation. Return definitions and reporting basis

Spending policy and payout

The FY2025 audit uses a 4.5% rate on a 12-quarter moving average of pooled-asset fair value, with additional provisions for year-to-year support. The formula and dollar appropriations have separate labels. The report's decade-wide $463 million of support spans multiple fiscal years. Spending disclosure

Source: NACUBO · Data through FY2025

The size of a spending account is separate from the current market value of its underlying endowment. A transfer from the investment pool authorizes support for the account's purpose. A smoothing formula can delay the effect of market gains or losses on that support. Unspent distributions can also remain available for a beneficiary beyond the year of appropriation. Spending measures

Governance and investment office

Bucknell's Investment Office and the Investments Committee of its Board of Trustees oversee the investment program. The annual report separates growth assets, lower-volatility investments, hybrid strategies and real estate. Those explanatory groups describe the portfolio's intended roles. Investment governance

Federal excise tax on investment income

Public Law 119-21 changed Section 4968 for tax years beginning after December 31, 2025. Applicable private institutions must have at least 3,000 tuition-paying students in the preceding tax year, with more than half located in the United States, and student-adjusted endowment of at least $500,000. The rates are 1.4% from $500,000 through $750,000 per student, 4% above $750,000 through $2 million, and 8% above $2 million. Enacted law, Section 70415 These rates apply to net investment income, using the law's prior-year asset and student-count definitions.

An institution's tax tier requires its statutory asset base, eligible student count and related-organization treatment. The survey's closing market value does not supply that calculation. No institution-specific rate is assigned without an institutional disclosure. A campus's enrollment in a public fact sheet can differ from the daily-average, full-time-equivalent count required by the law.

FY2025 size-band comparison

The FY2025 survey value of USD 1,263.318 million places this respondent in the $1B to $5B band. The published band contains 125 respondents and USD 268.0 billion of aggregate assets. Its average five-year annualized net return is 10.8%, and its ten-year average is 8.0%. The size classification follows the survey-year balance even where an official disclosure on this page uses a later year or a different portfolio scope. NCSE size groups NCSE average net returns

Source: NACUBO · Data through FY2025

Source: NACUBO · Data through FY2025

The peer mix describes average reported exposures within one size band. It does not reveal individual securities or the availability of cash at a particular institution. Respondents can also use different policy benchmarks. NCSE returns are net of external management fees and expenses for periods ending June 30, 2025; those periods and fee labels govern any numerical return comparison on this page. NCSE allocation definitions

Public records and reporting dates

The ProPublica nonprofit API identifies the legal filer as Bucknell University, EIN 240772407. Its available filing for the year ended June 30, 2023 reports total filer assets of USD 1,678.403 million, revenue of USD 378.989 million, expenses of USD 357.038 million. These are filer-wide amounts, which can include buildings, operating resources and other assets outside the endowment. The filing period is retained separately from the current investment disclosures. ProPublica structured filing data

Related reading

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• Comparable endowment sizes
• Endowment directory
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