The University of Notre Dame’s endowment’s investments returned 12.6% for fiscal year 2017 ending June 30, raising its total asset value to $11.8 billion, from $10.4 billion at the end of fiscal year 2016.
The returns were well ahead of last year’s loss of 0.3%, but were just below the median 12.9% return of the broad universe of US colleges and universities.
The university reported that over the past 20 years, the endowment’s investment pool has earned an annualized return of 10.7%, compared to 6.5% for its internal strategic policy portfolio—which is a passively indexed portfolio of similar assets—and compared to 5.9% for a portfolio with a 60/40 blend of stocks and bonds as represented by the MSCI All Country World Investable Index.
The Notre Dame Endowment is the 12th largest in American higher education and the largest at a Catholic university, and endowment pool distributions have grown 132% over the past decade. The endowment is invested in a global, multi-asset class portfolio, with a strong emphasis on equity and equity-like investments for long-term growth.
Additional details of the fund’s performance have not yet been disclosed.