Another ho-hum year for Georgetown's endowment

[hoyaLS05]

Increases 12.6 percent from $741 mill to around $834 mill, good enough to jump from 78th to 76th.

www.nacubo.org/documents/research/2006NES_Listing.pdf

[AustinHoya03]

hoyals05 said:

Increases 12.6 percent from $741 mill to around $834 mill, good enough to jump from 78th to 76th.

www.nacubo.org/documents/research/2006NES_Listing.pdf

Not a terrible percentage increase, but the overall numbers need to rise. A significant donation could send our endowment ranking skyrocketing -- take a look at Tufts' figures.

[DFW HOYA]

FWIW, 11 out of the top 12 schools had better than a 12% rate of return.

Meanwhile, Notre Dame's growth of 21.5% netted some $786 million, just short of Georgetown's entire endowment of $834M.

At least we passed Tulsa...

[StPetersburgHoya (Inactive)]

Take that Tulsa.

[hilltopper2000]

GU has been waiting for over 10 years now for that big donation to give us a boost. We still haven't gotten it. Hopefully there will be a few $100 m gifts in the new campaign; Lord knows we have a good number of alumni who could do it, if they so desired. Realistically, the endowment is about 1/4 of where it needs to be; that won't happen overnight but we need the big gifts to at least put us in the game. I worry that there is still not much faith in the university's money management, but maybe that is changing.

[HoyaChris]

dfw said:

FWIW, 11 out of the top 12 schools had better than a 12% rate of return.

Meanwhile, Notre Dame's growth of 21.5% netted some $786 million, just short of Georgetown's entire endowment of $834M.

At least we passed Tulsa...

The increases cited are not a rate of return. Rather, they represent the sum of all activity, including investment returns, donations and expenditures.

[DFW HOYA]

hoyachris said:

The increases cited are not a rate of return. Rather, they represent the sum of all activity, including investment reurns, donations and expenditures.

Correct--poor choice of my words on my part. The growth from other schools continues to keep Georgetown at a distance, though.

[HoyaBlue02]

I am curious to know what the allocation of the endowment is, but according to the College Sustainability Report Card (just released), Georgetown "makes neither its proxy voting record nor its list of endowment holdings public"

www.endowmentinstitute.org/sustainability/CollegeSustainabilityReportCard.pdf

[hoya01]

In my opinion, much like MIT did this past year, Georgetown should hire one of David Swensen's protege's from Yale. MIT's endowment increased by 24.7%. I wish I knew how much of that was from new gifts.

Has a goal been announced for Georgetown's new capital campaign?

[hoya01]

Oh, and just as a point of comparison, Phillips Exeter's endowment is reported to be $806 million.

[Deleted]

Doesn't this speak volumes about the Development Office at Georgetown? I know there are well-documented financial issues (many related to the hospital, etc), but seriously. There are tons of GU alums out there who are LOADED. Are we tapping into those resources? Are we doing it in the most effective way? Seems to me that we've had too many issues about the endowment for too long.

[SoCalHoya]

Loaded alumni does not necessarily equal good donors.

And do we, indeed, have a lot of loaded donors? More than other schools of our size? I don't know.

I think our development office has finally turned a corner. But they are going to need help. I'm happy to and have let them know, I hope others do the same.

[Deleted]

socalhoya said:

Loaded alumni does not necessarily equal good donors.

True indeed. But good donors are made, not born. Gotta cultivate them...

[EasyEd]

Only on this board is $831M considered to be ho-hum.
Also, and I've said this before, many of the more prosperous alumni are of the elder variety who do not agree with the direction Georgetown has taken as a university. You may not like that but it's a fact.

[Deleted]

ed said:

Only on this board is $831M considered to be ho-hum.
Also, and I've said this before, many of the more prosperous alumni are of the elder variety who do not agree with the direction Georgetown has taken as a university. You may not like that but it's a fact.

Well, that's where cultivation comes in, I think. If alumni are asked to remain involved, if they're given the opportunity to shape the direction of the place, etc....then I'm thinking they're more likely to become good donors. Sure, we can't all be on the Board of Governors, but there are plenty of opportunities at plenty of levels to be a part of things.

And being a good donor doesn't necessarily mean giving a ton of money. For those who aren't as prosperous, it's about giving every year, even if it's just a small amount. And then, when you become prosperous and are trying to figure out where to send all that extra money, Georgetown will come to mind first.

If easyed's right, we're not gonna get a huge chunk of money from some of the more wealthy older folks....so be it. But if the Development Office starts cultivating the younger set now, it can pay off in the end.

[kchoya]

socalhoya said:

And do we, indeed, have a lot of loaded donors? More than other schools of our size? I don't know.

That's what I've always wondered. I know people throw around names like Leonsis and Ewing and Dikembe Mutombo Mpolondo Mukamba Jean Jacque Wamutombo (couldn't resist), but are the billionaire GU grads out there that will make a $100M+ gift. Do we have a T. Boone Pickens or a Ralph Englestad out there (to pick some more colorful characters).

[hilltopper2000]

KC -- The answer is affirmatively "yes." There are plenty. BTW: Is Pickens wealthier than Leonsis? In addition to Ted, Hoyas own the Cardinals (NFL), Grizzlies, and LA Dodgers. There are a significant number of parents and alums on the Forbes list. The problem is getting someone to give. This is sort of like getting struck by lightning because it is rare than anyone wants to make a donation of that size, but we seem to be particularly unlucky. If you are really interested, do some research on the people on this list:
president.georgetown.edu/board/board.html

[thebin]

hoya01 said:

Oh, and just as a point of comparison, Phillips Exeter's endowment is reported to be $806 million.

Try as I may, I can't seem to be happy about the fact that my high school has as much money as my university.

[HoyaBlue02]

I think the problem is that big-time donors want to see their money being used effectively, and I think donating to the endowment is not looked as a very "effective" vehicle...meaning, the return has been pretty abysmal in contrast to our peers. So unless they get some hotshot investment guru that can sell donors on why they should invest in the endowment, I don't think it's going to happen.

[StPetersburgHoya (Inactive)]

Resisting temptation to make endowment jokes...