Key facts

Reported value

USD 2.90 billion

As of

June 30, 2026

Portfolio

Long-Term Investment Pool

Investment office

CU Foundation; Cerity Partners OCIO

Management model

Outsourced CIO: Cerity Partners OCIO

Data through FY2026

Balance reference

Endowment size and reporting scope

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 latest balance is labelled foundation managed endowments, rounded and is dated June 30, 2026. The return series identifies the portfolio as Long-Term Investment Pool. 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 FY2026

Across the reported FY2016 to FY2025 observations, the survey balance changed by USD 1,409.0 million (132.6%). This is balance growth; it includes the effect of new capital and distributions. NACUBO historical values FY2025 respondent table

Investment returns

Performance report

Fee basis: Net of fees.

The 1-year result is 20.34%, while the 10-year result is 10.88% annually. The trailing periods share the same end date and overlap; their percentages are not added together. A long-term annualized return describes compound growth over the full period. The year-end asset balance also reflects money entering or leaving the portfolio. Return series

Asset allocation

Source: giving.cu.edu · Data through FY2026

Actual Long-Term Investment Pool weights at June 30, 2026. Allocation report

Spending policy and payout

The foundation board sets endowment spending policy. FY2026 transfers to university purposes and advancement support totaled $303.7 million across foundation activities. That broad support line includes more than endowment distributions and is kept separate from the endowment balance. 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 CU Foundation is a legally separate charitable organization. Its Investment Policy Committee establishes investment parameters and monitors the outsourced CIO with an independent consultant's assistance. Cerity Partners OCIO supplies investment management under contract. Investment governance

Federal excise tax on investment income

Public Law 119-21 changed Section 4968 for tax years beginning after December 31, 2025. The private-college schedule requires at least 3,000 tuition-paying students in the preceding tax year, 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

This respondent includes a public university and affiliated charitable organizations. State colleges and universities described in Section 511(a)(2)(B) are excluded from Section 4968. An affiliated foundation is a separate legal organization. Its public-charity filing status does not itself establish liability for the private-foundation investment-income tax or a private-college tier. Related-organization rules must be read with the public-university exclusion.

The statutory asset base excludes assets used directly for exempt purposes and uses prior-year values and the statutory student-count rules. A survey endowment divided by a fall enrollment count does not reproduce that calculation. An endowment appropriation rate uses a different denominator from a tax rate on investment income.

FY2025 size-band comparison

The FY2025 NACUBO respondent value of USD 2,471.7 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 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 ProPublica API identifies the legal filer as University Of Colorado Foundation, EIN 846049811. Its available Form 990 data for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2024 report total filer assets of USD 3,233.558 million, revenue of USD 342.190 million, expenses of USD 281.808 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