Key facts

Reported value

USD 2.15 billion

As of

June 30, 2025

Portfolio

Endowment

Investment office

Wake Forest University investment function

Spending policy

Reynolda 4.4%; health sciences 5.3% in FY2025

Data through FY2025

Balance reference

Endowment size and reporting scope

The audited closing endowment balances are $1,235.785 million for Reynolda Campus and $913.904 million for health sciences, totaling $2,149.689 million. The health-sciences figure includes $56.175 million of assets received under a conditional gift that had not yet been recognized as revenue. The component spending rates below retain their separate bases. Audited endowment note

A managed pool is an investment vehicle with participating accounts. Its market value can include assets whose owner intends to spend them on a different timetable from a perpetual gift. The endowment balance identifies the funds held for endowed purposes; the wider institutional balance sheet also includes buildings, receivables and obligations. Donor restrictions attach to the account and its use of income even when investments are selected together. Accounting scope therefore remains part of the meaning of each reported figure. Financial reporting basis

The survey identifies the respondent as Wake Forest 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

The survey series begins at USD 1,141.2 million in FY2016 and ends at USD 2,149.7 million in FY2025. Its USD 1,008.5 million change is measured after gifts, spending and other balance movements. NACUBO historical values FY2025 respondent table

Spending policy and payout

Reynolda appropriated $48.566 million from its endowment in FY2025, compared with $45.116 million in FY2024. Its applied rate was 4.4%, while health sciences used 5.3%. The policy uses a three-year semiannual moving average per unit and limits annual per-unit spending growth or decline to 10%. Spending disclosure

Source: prod.wp.cdn.aws.wfu.edu · Data through FY2025

Distribution report

The policy formula controls how the operating budget receives support across market cycles. Its averaging base can differ from the latest fiscal-year-end balance. The dollar distribution records support for a stated year, while a budget-support percentage measures the institution's reliance on that support. Distribution basis

The operating budget records the use of endowment support alongside other revenue. The share of a budget supplied by the endowment measures institutional reliance. The spending-policy rate instead measures an appropriation against the institution's stated asset base. The two percentages can move differently when expenses or other revenues change. A reported dollar distribution is useful alongside both, provided that the reporting period and beneficiary scope stay attached to it. Spending and reporting scope

Governance and investment office

The Board of Trustees applies UPMIFA to donor-restricted endowment appropriations. Its audited statements distinguish board-designated funds and donor-restricted funds. The two campus spending rates reflect different reporting components and should be read with their respective fund bases. 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 2,149.7 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

The size band follows the survey's FY2025 respondent balance. It does not change when a newer pool figure covers additional assets. Survey respondent values and managed-pool values retain their separate scopes. 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 Wake Forest University, EIN 560532138. Its available Form 990 data for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2023 report total filer assets of USD 2,655.159 million, revenue of USD 686.860 million, expenses of USD 654.793 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