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Endowments by Size Band: What Changes as an Endowment Grows
An Endowments.com benchmark study built from public data. No surveys were run for this study.
I have spent years watching wealthy families sort themselves by size. A family with $50 million invests nothing like one with $5 billion. When I looked at the public endowment data, I saw the same pattern. Size changes almost everything.
This study looks at that pattern. It groups U.S. endowments into seven size bands and asks four questions. What do they own? What did they earn over the long run? How much do they spend? And how much does the school lean on the money?
Data used
- NACUBO-Commonfund Study of Endowments, FY2025 public tables. Asset allocation, 5 and 10 year returns, spending rates and participant counts by size band. 657 U.S. respondents.
- FY2025 endowment market values from the same publisher. 678 institutions, about $954 billion in total. We used this list to measure how concentrated the money is.
- Institution reports. Budget and revenue shares from each school's own FY2025 report or release.
Every figure carries its source below. Where we computed something, we say so.
Finding 1. The share in alternatives rises with size
| Size band | Alternatives | U.S. equity | Fixed income |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under $50M | 11.9% | 44.0% | 26.1% |
| $50M to $100M | 15.4% | 39.0% | 24.2% |
| $100M to $250M | 24.8% | 30.7% | 20.5% |
| $250M to $500M | 31.4% | 27.1% | 16.6% |
| $500M to $1B | 37.9% | 21.2% | 16.3% |
| $1B to $5B | 48.0% | 16.4% | 12.3% |
| Over $5B | 62.2% | 9.5% | 8.2% |
Alternatives here follows the NACUBO definition. It covers hedge funds and absolute return, private equity and venture capital, plus secondaries and real assets. The largest band holds more than five times the small band's share. Public U.S. stocks move the other way.
What I see in families. The families I know who do the most direct deals and co-investments are the billion-dollar families. They have the staff, the access and the patience. Endowments follow the same curve. Bigger pools can hire teams, wait out lockups and get into funds that turn small investors away.
Finding 2. Larger endowments earned more over ten years
| Size band | 5-year | 10-year |
|---|---|---|
| Under $50M | 10.0% | 7.5% |
| $50M to $100M | 10.1% | 7.5% |
| $100M to $250M | 9.6% | 7.4% |
| $250M to $500M | 10.0% | 7.6% |
| $500M to $1B | 10.7% | 7.8% |
| $1B to $5B | 10.8% | 8.0% |
| Over $5B | 11.4% | 8.9% |
Returns are net of external fees, for periods ending June 30, 2025. The gap between the smallest and largest band over ten years is 1.4 points a year. Compounded, that is a big difference in what a school can spend.
A word of care. The bands below $500 million sit within a tight range of 7.4% to 7.6%. Size helps most at the high end.
Finding 3. Spending rates don't follow size
| Size band | Effective spending rate |
|---|---|
| Under $50M | 4.5% |
| $50M to $100M | 5.5% |
| $100M to $250M | 4.9% |
| $250M to $500M | 5.2% |
| $500M to $1B | 4.3% |
| $1B to $5B | 4.5% |
| Over $5B | 5.0% |
Most bands spend between 4.3% and 5.5% of beginning market value. These spending figures are equal weighted. Private nonprofits spent 5.4% on average and public institutions 4.2%.
So the big advantage of size is not a higher payout rate. It is a higher return on a bigger base.
Finding 4. A few endowments hold most of the money
| Group | Share of total |
|---|---|
| Largest 10 | 33.5% |
| Largest 25 | 52.6% |
| Largest 50 | 65.0% |
| Largest 100 | 77.6% |
Computed by Endowments.com from NACUBO's FY2025 list of 678 institutions. The median endowment on that list is about $260 million.
The respondent counts in the participants table show the same thing. The 30 respondents over $5 billion hold 58.2% of respondent assets. The 76 under $50 million hold 0.2%.
For fund managers. If you raise capital, read this twice. A small number of investment offices control most of the dollars, and those offices hold most of their money in alternatives. But there are hundreds of smaller endowments with simpler portfolios and fewer managers. Pick which group you serve. Our capital raising pages cover how to build an investor avatar for each.
Finding 5. Some schools lean on the endowment far more than others
| Institution | Share | Measured against |
|---|---|---|
| Berea | 74% | operating budget |
| Princeton | about 67% | operating revenue |
| Grinnell | 60% | operating budget |
| Rice | about 40% | operating budget |
| Harvard | 37% to 40% | operating revenue |
| Yale | 35.8% | operating expenditures |
| Dartmouth | 30% | operating budget |
| Brown | 23% | total revenue |
| Northwestern | 22% | operating expenses |
| WashU | 11% | operating budget |
Each school defines its base differently, so read this as a rough guide. Endowment size alone doesn't decide dependence. Small, wealthy-per-student colleges can lean on the endowment more than large research universities with big hospitals and grants.
What committees can take from this
- Know your band. Compare your mix and returns to peers your size, not to the largest names.
- Don't copy the biggest blindly. A 62% alternatives mix needs a real team and careful liquidity planning. A small endowment may not have those.
- Watch dependence. The more the budget relies on the payout, the more a bad year hurts. Plan liquidity around that.
- Spend with discipline. Most bands land near 4.5% to 5.5%. A rule tied to a multi-year average smooths the ride.
This study is informational only. It is not investment, legal or tax advice.
Download the data
Frequently asked questions
Is this study based on a survey?
No new survey was run. It uses NACUBO's published FY2025 tables and each school's own reports.
Do bigger endowments always earn more?
Over ten years to June 30, 2025, the over $5 billion band earned the most, 8.9% a year. Bands under $500 million were close together. One period doesn't prove a rule.
What counts as alternatives?
The study counts hedge funds, absolute return, private equity, venture capital, secondaries, sustainable investments and real assets.
Sources
- Summary Asset Allocations, NACUBO-Commonfund Study of Endowments FY2025: https://edge.sitecorecloud.io/nacubo1-nacubo-prd-dc8b/media/Nacubo/Documents/EndowmentFiles/2025-NCSE-Public-Tables--Summary-Asset-Allocations-FINAL.pdf
- Returns by size and type, same study: https://edge.sitecorecloud.io/nacubo1-nacubo-prd-dc8b/media/Nacubo/Documents/EndowmentFiles/2025-NCSE-Public-Tables--10-Year-Returns-by-Size-and-Type-FINAL.pdf
- Effective spending rates, same study: https://edge.sitecorecloud.io/nacubo1-nacubo-prd-dc8b/media/Nacubo/Documents/EndowmentFiles/2025-NCSE-Public-Tables--Spending-Rates-FINAL.pdf
- Participant counts and assets: https://edge.sitecorecloud.io/nacubo1-nacubo-prd-dc8b/media/Nacubo/Documents/EndowmentFiles/2025-NCSE-Public-Tables--Number-of-NCSE-Participants-FINAL.pdf
- FY2025 endowment market values for 678 institutions: https://edge.sitecorecloud.io/nacubo1-nacubo-prd-dc8b/media/Nacubo/Documents/EndowmentFiles/2025-NCSE-Endowment-Market-Values-for-US-and-Canadian-Institutions-FINAL.xlsx
- Dependence sources per institution: see the endowment_dependence.csv download on this page.
