Study: Educational Endowments' Investment Returns Averaged 15.5 Percent

Staffing, Outsourcing and Consultant Use

Endowments reported an average of 1.6 full-time equivalent (FTE) employees devoted to the investment management function in FY2014, unchanged year over year. Endowments with assets over $1 billion had the largest average staff size at 9.3 FTEs; endowments with assets between $501 million and $1 billion reported an average of 2.4 FTEs. All other size cohorts reported less than one full-time equivalent devoted to investment management. Forty-three percent of Study respondents said they have substantially outsourced the investment management function, up from 40 percent the prior year and 38 percent the year before that, continuing a trend toward outsourcing that has been on the rise for several years. Eighty-two percent of the Study population reported using a consultant for various services related to investment management, a moderate decrease compared with last year’s 85 percent.