Key facts

Reported value

USD 2.02 billion

As of

June 30, 2025

Portfolio

Endowment

Investment office

Saint Louis University finance and investment function

Data through FY2025

Balance reference

Endowment size and reporting scope

The audited FY2025 endowment roll-forward closes at $2,018.472 million, split between $1,333.223 million without donor restrictions and $685.249 million with them. The previous year closed at $1,879.430 million. The endowment note separates investment income, gains and appropriations from transfers creating board-designated funds. Audited endowment note

Endowment accounting follows both ownership and donor restrictions. Donor-restricted principal and accumulated gains can sit in the same investment vehicle as board-designated funds. The investment portfolio can be managed collectively while each account preserves its designated use. A consolidated statement adds other assets and obligations, including property and debt, that have no place in an endowment-only balance. The difference between total assets and net assets is also relevant: net assets are measured after liabilities. Financial reporting basis

The survey identifies the respondent as Saint Louis University. Its investment report uses the portfolio name Endowment. The balance history follows the survey respondent, while performance follows the named portfolio. Endowed gifts may carry individual purposes even when they are invested together. The investment office can pool those funds for management and still account for each beneficiary separately. A change in the endowment balance includes gifts, appropriations and transfers alongside gains and losses on investments. Official report

Source: NACUBO · Data through FY2025

Across the reported FY2016 to FY2025 observations, the survey balance changed by USD 965.5 million (91.7%). This is balance growth; it includes the effect of new capital and distributions. NACUBO historical values FY2025 respondent table

Spending policy and payout

Saint Louis appropriated $114.992 million in endowment assets in FY2025, compared with $84.120 million in FY2024. This endowment-note measure differs from the wider statement-of-activities line for investment return designated for operations. Endowment spending note

Source: slu.edu · Data through FY2025

The FY2025 statement of activities reports $120.063 million of investment return designated for operations. That financial-statement line has its own definition and is not relabelled as a cash endowment distribution. Endowed fund appropriations and releases from restrictions follow the audit's separate accounting categories. Spending disclosure

A distribution is money made available for the fund's designated use. A policy rate uses the averaging base defined by the institution. Dividing the distribution by the latest closing balance would create another measure, so the published formula and the reported dollar amount retain their own labels. Distribution basis

The spending base determines how quickly market changes enter annual support. A trailing average combines several valuation dates, and a formula based partly on prior spending carries an additional lag. A published distribution describes support authorized for that year. It need not equal the cash a beneficiary department spends within the same period. Donor purpose restrictions continue to govern that spending, while any internal assessment must retain its own fee label. Spending and reporting scope

Governance and investment office

The university's accounting and financial reporting office maintains records for endowment, annuity and life-income funds. Its consolidated statements distinguish net assets with donor restrictions from net assets without them. Investment holdings and institutional liabilities belong to different parts of the balance sheet. Investment governance

Federal excise tax on investment income

Public Law 119-21 changed IRC 4968 for tax years beginning after December 31, 2025. An applicable institution must have at least 3,000 tuition-paying students in the preceding tax year, with more than half located in the United States. Its student-adjusted endowment must be at least $500,000. The rate is 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

The tax applies to net investment income. Student-adjusted endowment uses the prior year's fair value of assets other than those used directly for exempt purposes, with statutory student-count and related-organization rules. Dividing the headline endowment by a fall enrollment number can give a different result. A rate on investment income also differs from a spending-policy percentage applied to average assets.

FY2025 size-band comparison

The FY2025 NACUBO respondent value of USD 2,018.5 million places this reporting entity in the $1B to $5B band. The published group contains 125 respondents. Its average annualized five-year return was 10.8%, its ten-year average was 8.0%, and its average effective spending rate was 4.5%. These are survey averages for FY2025. Respondent counts Average net returns Spending-rate table

Source: NACUBO · Data through FY2025

NCSE returns are net of external management fees and expenses for periods ended June 30, 2025. A portfolio reported on another cost convention or fiscal-year end describes a different result. Survey allocation definitions

The NCSE allocation groups combine several underlying investment strategies. Alternatives can include private capital, hedge funds and real assets, so matching that broad percentage does not imply matching individual holdings or liquidity. The size-band return is an average of respondent results. It describes a survey group for a common period and does not replace the institution's own investment-policy benchmark. Trailing five- and ten-year returns are annualized compound results, while the one-year return measures the final fiscal year alone. NCSE definitions

Public records and reporting dates

The official investment report supplies the portfolio figures and measurement dates on this page. The institution or related reporting entity also has a public nonprofit filing record. Tax-return assets and expenses cover that legal filer and can be broader than its endowment. Nonprofit filing record

The ProPublica API identifies the legal filer as St Louis University, EIN 430654872. Its available Form 990 data for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2021 report total filer assets of USD 2,817.505 million, revenue of USD 1,132.792 million, expenses of USD 1,074.448 million. These figures cover the legal filer. Its assets and operating activity can include resources outside the endowment, and this filing period predates the investment figures above. ProPublica structured filing data

Related reading

• Endowment size bands
• Endowments.com
• FamilyOffices.com