Grinnell College’s $2.7 billion endowment posted a net return of 10.7% for the fiscal year ended June 30, an Oct. 15 news release from the Grinnell, Iowa-based college said.
For the three, five and 10 years ended June 30, the endowment returned an annualized net 0.2%, 9% and 7.7%, respectively.
The college did not provide benchmark information, returns by asset class or asset allocation information.
The endowment had returned a net 4.5% for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2023.
For the most recent fiscal year, the endowment’s return fell just short of the median return of 10.8% among the 24 college and university endowments whose returns for the period have been tracked by Pensions & Investments as of Oct. 16.
Jainen Thayer, chief investment officer, said in the news release that private investments generally lagged public market returns for the second year in a row.
“We will simply not see the full positive impact of many of the private investment decisions we’ve made recently for several years,” said Thayer. “It can be easy to lose that longer perspective during years like FY 2023 and 2024, but we remain committed to our investment approach built on identifying the absolute best opportunities for the investment portfolio and partnerships with exceptional investment managers globally. That is the formula that results in strong endowment performance over the long term.”
Thayer could not be immediately reached for further information.
