The University of Michigan’s endowment climbed $1.3 billion to a market value of $19.2 billion during fiscal year 2024, with distributions at a record $506 million.
The university’s long-term investment portfolio has seen an annualized return of 9.6% in the 25 years since U-M established a separate investment office — well into the top quartile for endowments at higher education institutions in the United States, according to Cambridge Associates.
Investments in innovation and climate solutions with meaningful positive impact continue to drive positive investment performance, Chief Investment Officer Erik Lundberg said.
U-M officials estimate the university could offset 25% of the endowment’s carbon footprint by the end of the current fiscal year and be net zero by the end of FY ’30 from already identified investments, depending on the methods for measuring the offset which are still in development.
“U-M has become an established leader in energy transition investments in higher education and is well on its way to transition the investment portfolio to net zero much sooner than the 2050 goal,” Lundberg said.
A detailed endowment investment report will be available after the Dec. 5 Board of Regents meeting.
Endowment distributions of $506 million in FY ’24, which ended June 30, support a variety of university functions, such as student scholarships and clinical care. The annual distributions — funds available for university units to spend — have increased every year since 2000 and totaled about $6.8 billion over that period.
“Our endowment consistently contributes hundreds of millions of dollars annually to support the university’s critical mission as a public research institution and health care provider,” said Geoffrey Chatas, executive vice president and chief financial officer.
“Our students, our patients, our employees and the taxpayers of Michigan reap the benefits of continued strong investment performance.”
The university’s endowment is a collection of more than 13,000 separate funds. These funds provide support that is restricted in most cases for specific purposes such as educational programs, research and professorships.
On a per-student basis, U-M’s endowment ranks 80th among all U.S. universities, according to a recent report from the National Association of College and University Business Officers. Unlike several private peer institutions with similarly sized or larger endowments, U-M’s endowment supports a much larger student body and campus community.
Dawn Burris
Yeah, and thanks for sharing it with those that help make it happen, besides Ono. 🙁
Robert LaRoe
Hurray.
Myles Zhang
US ARMS DEALERS AND COLLABORATORS WITH ISRAEL’S GENOCIDE:
Stock value growth in past year
General Dynamics Corporation: +72%
Raytheon Technologies Corporation: +52%
Northrop Grumman Corporation: +40%
Lockheed Martin Corporation: +29%
Israel Aerospace Industries: +56%
Rafael Holdings (based in Israel) +23%
Elbit System (based in Israel): +22%
They said the University of Michigan practices “institutional neutrality” and takes no sides. They said that calling for the university to divest from the above companies is not possible.
As they pepper sprayed students and arrested hundreds among us, they said that we the students – instead of them the corporations and administrators – were the ones who were violent. They said that Jewish Voice for Peace and anti-war protestors are anti-Semitic. They said the University of Michigan does not profit from genocide. They said there is no genocide. They said that what we see with our own eyes is not, in fact, what we see.
Seventy percent of General Dynamics revenue comes from arms sales, and the value of their stock has grown 72% in the past year. Do we need to so much as imagine where this money comes from, and the human consequences of our profit?
The University of Michigan knows where its endowment is spent. They know how much of this endowment profits from the sale of teargas, 2,000-pound bombs, machine guns, and the tools of apartheid – not just in Israel, but in the 800+ military bases this U.S. war machine has built around the world. The University of Michigan knows. But they will not tell. They will not tell us because the moment that they tell us will be so much as an admission of guilt – the guilt of saying:
“We as a university and Board of Regents value profit and value money.
We value these things more than their weight in human lives.”
Andrew Thompson
They are being careful with their words. Yes, it’s a record dollar amount of endowment spending/distributions, but they are spending a lower percentage of the endowment than they used to. For 25 yrs it’s averaged a 9.6% annual return and yet we only distribute 4+% when we used to do 5+%. They are spending less of the endowment than they used to. 1% more in distributions would be an additional $100M that could do more for the Flint & Dearborn campuses for which there is almost no DEI funding & resources where the need is great.
They also say the endowment ranks 80th in terms of per capita by student but not that it ranks 3rd amongst public universities. 1st & 2nd amongst those is the University of Texas system at $45B, and Texas A&M system, but they both rank lower than UofM on the endowment per capita rankings. We’re a very wealthy institution with great disparities amongst our ranks and the endowment is underserving out communities on several fronts. I do not see this as a something to celebrate.