Yale’s endowment has seen a 20.2% return on investment for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2014. The fund has grown from a previous $20.8bn to $23.9bn, net of spending.
The university expects to be spending $1.1bn of the endowment during the fiscal year ending June 30, 2015. This is equivalent to 34% of Yale’s net revenues – and represents nearly double the contribution to the institutions operating budget from a decade ago.
The fund has been growing steadily with an average return of 11% per year over the past ten years, a higher rate than the return on stocks on the US market at 8.4%. The endowment fund was worth $12.7bn at the end of fiscal year 2004, and $3.5bn at the end of fiscal year 1994.
Moving into fiscal year 2015, the university has announced the following targets for the endowment’s portfolio: 31% for private equity, 20% for absolute return, 17% for real estate, 13% for foreign equity, 8% for natural resources. 6% for domestic equity and 5% for bonds and cash.
