Carnegie Mellon University
November 13, 2017

Carnegie Mellon University Endowment Grows to $1.7 Billion

Abby Simmons
  • Marketing & Communications
  • 412-268-4290

Carnegie Mellon University's endowment stood at $1.72 billion as of June 30, 2017. During the preceding fiscal year, the endowment contributed $68 million to university operations or approximately 6.0 percent of the overall budget.

The return on CMU's investments for the year was 13.2 percent. More importantly, the university's long-term, global equity-focused investment strategy, along with gifts from university alumni and friends and other funds invested in the endowment have helped raise the endowment from $754 million at the trough of the global financial crisis in mid-2009.

The investment return of the endowment averaged 4.8 percent for the 10-year period, which covers the transition period to the current long-term, global equity investment strategy. The five-year return averaged 9.4 percent per year and the three-year average was 6.4 percent.

The endowment total does not include assets from The Dietrich Foundation, which also generate returns to benefit Carnegie Mellon. The university's share of the annual distributions from The Dietrich Foundation is 53.5 percent. If the portion of The Dietrich Foundation's assets generating income for CMU were added to the university's endowment, the total would be $2.15 billion invested to benefit the university.

"By pursuing a long-term, global investment strategy with a key allocation to private equity, we believe the endowment will be well positioned to attain a more meaningful role in supporting the university's students, faculty and programs. We are starting to see the benefits of the strategy in the university's intermediate-term results, and we look forward to growth in years to come," said Charles A. Kennedy, CMU's chief investment officer.