The fund outperformed the median results of peers

The Stanford University Endowment Fund released its investment results last week.

For the 12 months ending June 30, 2019, Stanford Management Company generated a 6.5% investment return, net of all internal and external costs and fees, but gross of the newly levied tax on certain endowments.

Stanford University Endowment Fund Performance

That figure outperforms the median 4.9% returns earned by the broad universe of U.S. colleges and universities. The report also noted that for the last five and ten years, respectively, the school generated a 7.4% and 10.2% annualized net return, versus the 5.1% and 8.5% annualized median returns for colleges and universities over the same periods.

Stanford Management Company is the university’s investment office and manages Stanford’s $29.6 billion Merged Pool of total investments. The Merged Pool is the principal fund for investing the university’s endowment and also includes capital reserves of Stanford Health Care and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford, along with other long-term funds

How Big is Stanford’s Endowment?

The value of the school’s endowment itself was $27.7 billion on August 31, 2019. That date is the end of the university’s fiscal year. The endowment disbursed $1.30 billion to support vital academic programs and financial aid during the fiscal year. These figures are equal to 4.9% of the endowment’s value at the beginning of the fiscal year.

At the end of 2018, the Fund’s largest holdings were private equity (27%). The fund also invested in Absolute Return Strategies like merger arbitrage and distressed investments, and international Equity (20%).

Seven percent of the fund was in cash as of December 31, 2018.