Key facts

Reported value

USD 398.1 million

As of

May 31, 2025

Portfolio

Endowment net assets in audited roll-forward

Location

Elon, NC

Spending policy

4.5% programs and professorships; 5.0% scholarships

Data through FY2025

Balance reference

Endowment size and reporting scope

For Elon University, the survey reports USD 411.468 million for FY2025 and USD 362.089 million for FY2024. These totals retain the respondent's published scope. A pooled investment fund can also hold resources outside permanent endowments, while financial statements can include interests administered by outside trustees. Those accounting boundaries help explain why one organization may publish more than one long-term-asset figure. Closing market value alone does not identify how much support a beneficiary can spend. Survey scope and definitions

The official USD 398.093 million figure and the FY2025 survey's USD 411.468 million describe their respective dates and reporting categories. The official balance retains its stated label, endowment net assets. The audit and survey use different reporting categories. Official financial scope

Source: NACUBO · Data through FY2025

The FY2025 survey value for Elon University is USD 411.468 million, compared with USD 362.089 million for FY2024. The USD 49.379 million movement is 13.64% 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 201.431 million and ends in FY2025 at USD 411.468 million. The change across those observations is USD 210.037 million. The smallest reported balance in the displayed series is USD 201.431 million in FY2016; the largest is USD 411.468 million in FY2025. The change in assets includes gifts and distributions as well as investment results. NACUBO historical workbook

Spending policy and payout

For FY2025 and FY2024, Elon applied 4.5% for programs and professorships and 5.0% for scholarships. Distributions use a moving three-year average of pooled market value. The Board appropriates unrestricted funds when it approves the following operating budget. Spending disclosure

Elon University's spending terms apply to the base specified in its disclosure. A policy percentage cannot be multiplied by the survey's closing value without checking the averaging dates and eligible accounts. Appropriated resources also retain any donor restrictions when moved from the investment pool to a spending account. Spending measures

Governance and investment office

Elon's Board of Trustees approves the endowment spending policy and the annual operating budget. The endowment note separates board-designated funds from donor-restricted funds. The university identifies no underwater deficiency at May 31, 2025 or 2024. Its May year-end is kept separate from June-end survey-return periods. 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

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.

Section 4968 taxes net investment income. Its asset and student definitions govern applicability and the rate.

FY2025 size-band comparison

The FY2025 survey value of USD 411.468 million places this respondent in the $250M to $500M band. The published band contains 102 respondents and USD 37.1 billion of aggregate assets. Its average five-year annualized net return is 10.0%, and its ten-year average is 7.6%. The size band uses the FY2025 NACUBO balance. NCSE size groups NCSE average net returns

Source: NACUBO · Data through FY2025

NCSE's allocation categories combine strategies with different liquidity and valuation practices. Its Alternatives group can include private capital, hedge funds and real assets. Matching that broad weight would not establish identical holdings. The displayed mix is a survey average, not this institution's target allocation. Published category weights are shown with an explicit rounding difference so the full bar totals 100%. NCSE allocation definitions

Public records and reporting dates

The ProPublica nonprofit API identifies the legal filer as Elon University, EIN 560532303. Its available filing for the year ended May 31, 2023 reports total filer assets of USD 1,089.819 million, revenue of USD 389.062 million, expenses of USD 364.591 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

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