Endowment Sees Strong Growth in FY ’17

MIDDLEBURY, Vt. – A strong equities market helped generate an investment return of 13.8 percent for Middlebury’s endowment in the fiscal year ending June 30, 2017. Thanks to the solid return and to gifts received during the year, the value of Middlebury’s endowment ended the year at $1.074 billion—up $74 million from 2016.

Last year’s performance boosted the endowment’s 3-year annualized return to 5.1 percent, the 5-year return to 9.2 percent, and the 10-year return to 6.3 percent.

The annual and 10-year returns both surpassed Middlebury’s own benchmark (75 percent global equity/25 percent Treasury securities) of 13.2 percent for the year and 5.0 percent over 10 years.

Middlebury’s endowment is managed by Investure, a firm based in Charlottesville, Virginia, that manages the endowments of colleges, universities, and foundations with a total value of more than $13 billion. Investure began managing the Middlebury endowment on May 31, 2005.

The Middlebury endowment supports all of Middlebury’s schools, including the undergraduate College, Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, Middlebury Language Schools, Schools Abroad, Bread Loaf School of English, Bread Loaf Writers’ Conferences, and School of the Environment. Last year Middlebury drew $68.5 million from its endowment to support its operations.

“We are delighted with the investment performance and growth of the endowment last year,” said David Provost, executive vice president for finance and administration. “Investure continues to outperform the benchmarks, and we believe they have an appropriate risk-aware strategy going forward given the high valuations we see in the market.”

“I also want to acknowledge the critical support Middlebury receives from our alumni, parents, and friends. The growth of our endowment over time is in large measure due to their generosity.”