University of New Orleans Outsources Endowment

(March 28, 2015) -- The University of New Orleans Foundation has picked Northern Trust as its outsourced chief investment officer (OCIO) provider.

"We look forward to helping manage the assets of, and being a resource to, the foundation for years to come," said Darius Gill, a managing director for Northern Trust’s non-profit institutional division.

The Louisiana-based endowment is the third non-profit Northern Trust has admitted to snagging in the past 10 months.

Last May, it announced a deal to manage $30 million for Indiana’s Marshall County Community Foundation.

A larger deal for Northern Trust’s foundation and institutional advisory OCIO business followed less than two months later: a $45 million mandate from Minnesota State’s Mankato branch to manage its endowment.

The University of New Orleans Foundation has topped both previous clients in size.

The endowment fund held $88 million in total assets as of December 31, 2012, according to the most recent available financial statements.

Of that, $63 million was invested in public and private markets. Mutual funds dominated the portfolio (48%), followed by fixed income (22%), domestic equities (16%), hedge fund investments (8%), international equities (4%), and real estate investment trusts made up the remainder.   

In 2012, the foundation paid out more than 10% of its assets ($9.8 million). Program operations accounted for roughly half of that ($5 million), while salaries, asset write-downs, and general overhead accounted for the balance.

Investment income replaced less than half of what the endowment spent in the same period. 

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