Kenyon’s endowment consists of gifts from alumni, parents and friends whose enduring commitment to the College provides support for Kenyon’s educational mission for generations to come. Different from gifts made to the annual fund, which are spent immediately, endowment funds are invested and a portion of the earnings are used to support a wide variety of strategic priorities.
Impact
Kenyon has endowed funds for scholarships, professorships, high-impact teaching and learning, and other programmatic support. By far, the single largest use of the endowment is for financial aid. Kenyon’s ability to admit talented students from all backgrounds, regardless of their ability to pay, has been strengthened dramatically by gifts to the endowment. Contributions from the endowment provide approximately 11% of Kenyon’s overall annual operating budget.
Management
The College’s investment program is overseen by CornerStone Partners LLC in Charlottesville, Virginia. As always, we continue to seek the best managers in the sectors of the market in which we invest, and we seek to achieve the maximum return possible within the risk profile we have adopted for the portfolio. It is our practice to report on the portfolio as a whole (see footnotes to the audited financial statements posted on the College’s website).
Risk Profile and Strategy
The current risk profile and strategy for the portfolio was set by the Investment Committee of the Kenyon College Board of Trustees in October 2015. The strategy has a modest risk profile compared to the larger universe of endowments but aligns well with Kenyon’s strategies: first, our goal to, at a minimum, earn what we spend plus inflation; second, to bolster the overall strength of the College’s balance sheet; and third, to support ongoing liquidity needs for operating expenses. Long-term, the portfolio is expected to perform at or above median in the National Association of College and University Business Officers endowment universe (about 800 endowments).
Social Responsibility
The Kenyon College Board of Trustees has sole responsibility for all investment decisions, including decisions about social responsibility issues that may be raised by members of the Kenyon community. Community input on investment decisions may be submitted following the guidelines articulated in the College’s Community Engagement Policy for Socially Responsible Investment Considerations and Divestment. Trustees will evaluate proposals using these guidelines as a framework, recognizing that all decisions must necessarily be made on a case-by-case basis.