Key facts

Reported value

USD 2.84 billion

As of

June 30, 2025

Portfolio

Endowment

Investment office

Swarthmore College investment function

Spending policy

3.5% to 5.0% under board policy

Data through FY2025

Balance reference

Endowment size and reporting scope

The endowment balance is a stock of resources at a particular date. Investment income and appropriations are flows measured across a period. A closing balance can rise through new gifts, retained gains or transfers, and can fall through spending and market losses. Those movements affect the scale of support available in future budgets. Percentage performance requires a return calculation that accounts for cash flows; dividing the dollar change by the opening balance creates a different measure. Financial reporting basis

The latest balance is labelled college endowment and is dated June 30, 2025. The return series identifies the portfolio as Endowment. The historical survey below retains the respondent scope reported to NACUBO. A pooled investment vehicle can include working capital, reserves or assets for associated organizations alongside endowed gifts. Each participating fund owns its own economic interest in that vehicle. The pool's market value, the institution's endowment balance and the investment manager's corporate assets describe different quantities. Official report

Source: NACUBO · Data through FY2025

The endowment's reported survey value moved from USD 1,747.0 million to USD 2,842.7 million across these observations. This 62.7% change includes gains and losses on investments along with gifts, spending and transfers. NACUBO historical values FY2025 respondent table

Spending policy and payout

The Board of Managers sets the annual distribution. Its policy has a 3.5% minimum and a 5.0% maximum. FY2025 endowment spending included $126.288 million without donor restrictions and $6.474 million with donor restrictions. Investment management fees of $6.586 million appear separately in the endowment roll-forward. Spending disclosure

Source: swarthmore.edu · Data through FY2025

Distribution report

Spending reaches the beneficiary through the institution's appropriation process. Donor purposes continue to govern the use of the money after it leaves the investment pool. The reported payout and policy percentage answer different questions because their periods and denominators differ. Distribution basis

Spending authority and investment liquidity have different roles. An appropriation permits resources to support the designated activity. The investment portfolio must also be able to deliver the cash needed for that support and for existing commitments. Private-fund valuations, redemption terms and capital calls affect that timing. A single closing market value does not show all those demands. The spending formula and audited fund categories provide additional context for the amount reaching operations. Spending and reporting scope

Governance and investment office

The Board of Managers oversees endowment distributions and the college's financial policies. Individual endowed funds retain donor purposes. The audit reports $489,000 in aggregate underwater deficits at June 30, 2025, against affected funds with $6.389 million of historic gift value. 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 2,842.7 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's figures are size-band averages, rather than medians or the institution's policy targets. The allocation graphic uses the published survey categories and identifies the rounding difference. A single year's result and a trailing annualized return measure different periods. 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 Swarthmore College, EIN 231352683. Its available Form 990 data for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2023 report total filer assets of USD 3,463.772 million, revenue of USD 270.668 million, expenses of USD 270.463 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