Key facts

Reported value

USD 181.0 million

As of

June 30, 2025

Portfolio

Foundation endowment

Location

Harrisonburg, VA

Spending policy

5% on the stated policy base

Management model

Outsourced chief investment officer model

Data through FY2025

Balance reference

Endowment size and reporting scope

The USD 181.016 million survey balance belongs to the respondent named James Madison University Foundation. Donor-restricted resources can be invested beside funds designated by the governing board for long-term use. Each account retains its purpose and beneficiary. A pooled vehicle can also include reserves or other long-term money, which gives its market value a different scope from endowed net assets. Survey scope and definitions

Source: NACUBO · Data through FY2025

The FY2025 survey value for James Madison University Foundation is USD 181.016 million, compared with USD 155.516 million for FY2024. The USD 25.500 million movement is 16.40% 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 79.977 million and ends in FY2025 at USD 181.016 million. The change across those observations is USD 101.039 million. The smallest reported balance in the displayed series is USD 79.977 million in FY2016; the largest is USD 181.016 million in FY2025. NACUBO historical workbook

Investment returns

Performance report

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 foundation targets a 5% distribution using a twelve-quarter moving average endowment market value. Of that amount, 4% supports the endowed purpose and 1% is a management fee supporting foundation and university advancement expenses. The chart shows the total target rate, including that fee. Spending disclosure

Source: NACUBO · Data through FY2025

For James Madison University Foundation, an appropriation can precede a beneficiary's expenditure. Its timing can differ from the cash expense recorded by the institution. Spending measures

Governance and investment office

JMU Foundation's Board of Trustees sets spending policy on the Investment Committee's recommendation. The FY2025 report describes CornerStone Partners as the outsourced investment manager selected in October 2023. It separates investment oversight from the university's philanthropy and engagement functions. 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

Section 4968 excludes state colleges and universities described in Section 511(a)(2)(B). Supporting foundations retain their own legal and filing identities, with related-organization rules read alongside the public-university exclusion. A foundation's public endowment value does not, by itself, assign it a private-college tax tier.

The tax is imposed on net investment income. Student-adjusted endowment uses prior-year fair values for assets other than those used directly for exempt purposes. The statute also contains student-count and related-organization provisions. A spending policy applies to an institution's chosen asset base, while the tax applies to investment income under federal rules.

FY2025 size-band comparison

The FY2025 survey value of USD 181.016 million places this respondent in the $100M to $250M band. The published band contains 154 respondents and USD 24.5 billion of aggregate assets. Its average five-year annualized net return is 9.6%, and its ten-year average is 7.4%. The size band uses the FY2025 NACUBO balance. NCSE size groups NCSE average net returns

Source: NACUBO · Data through FY2025

Institution fee treatment is unspecified in the cited performance disclosure. NCSE reports net of external management fees and expenses. These fee bases can affect the comparison.

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 James Madison University Foundation Inc, EIN 237156305. Its available filing for the year ended June 30, 2023 reports total filer assets of USD 214.402 million, revenue of USD 21.590 million, expenses of USD 21.367 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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