Nonprofit Performance Links
FoundationAdvocate is owned and operated by the same parent company as FoundationMark, publisher of the “Better Benchmarks for Private Foundations” indices, and we rely on FoundationMark data for much of our analysis. That said, we know of several other organizations that publish investment performance data relating to nonprofits, and believe in sharing information and resources to support the foundation community. Northern Trust and BNY Mellon publish quarterly performance numbers, while Council on Foundations (December periods) and NACUBO (June periods) provide annual studies.
Period Ending December 2019
- FoundationMark
- One year return estimate 18.8% (published Jan 2020)
- BNY Mellon US Master Trust
- One year return 16.6% (published February 2020)
- Council on Foundations – Commonfund (expected August 2020)
- Northern Trust Foundations and Endowments
- One year return 16.2% (published February 2020)
Period Ending June 2019
- FoundationMark
- One year return estimate 5.0% (published July 2019)
- NACUBO/TIAA
- One year return 5.3% (published January 2020)
- BNY Mellon US Master Trust
- One year return 5.49% (published August 2019)
- Northern Trust Universe
- One year return 5.2% (published July 2019)
Period Ending December 2018
- FoundationMark
- One year return (5.8%) (published January 2019)
- Council on Foundations – Commonfund
- One year return (3.5%) (published August 2019)
- BNY Mellon US Master Trust
- One year return (3.35%) (published February 2019)
- Northern Trust Universe
- One year return (2.6%) (published February 2019)
Results Period Ending June 2018
Results Period Ending December 2017
College Endowment Resources
Articles
- An OCIO Performance Index Exists for the First Time. Here’s How They Did. (Institutional Investor)
- What Drives Outperformance at Endowments & Foundations (Institutional Investor)
- David Swenson is Great for Yale. Is He Horrible for Investing? (Institutional Investor)
- Endowments Lag Stock Indices As Private Market Gains Elusive (Financial Advisor)
- Gifts to Charity Dropped 1.7 Percent Last Year, Says ‘Giving USA’
- Why Charities Have Been Such Bad Investors (WSJ)
- Why the Ivy League Clings to a Strategy of Diminishing Returns (NYT)
- A College Investor Who Beats the Ivys (NYT)
- Measuring the Ivy 2018
External Trustee Links
From time to time, we come across articles that we think are interesting and worth sharing. We are always on the lookout for more resources, so if you see interesting articles about foundation investments, please pass them along.