University of Iowa Center for Advancement's $1.4 billion endowment returned -2.4% for the fiscal year ended June 30, according to a performance report on the Iowa City-based center's website.
For the three, five and 10 years ended June 30, the endowment returned an annualized 7.1%, 6.9% and 7.6%, respectively.
The endowment had returned 31.9% for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2021.
The performance report did not specify whether the returns were gross or net of fees and did not provide benchmark information or returns by asset class.
For the most recent fiscal year, the negative return for the endowment reflected a challenging market environment for public equities and fixed income. For the year ended June 30, the Russell 3000 index and Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond index returned -13.9% and -10.3%, respectively, in sharp contrast to returns of 44.2% and 4.6% for the year ended June 30, 2021.
The endowment's performance did, however, fall above the median return of -3.1% among the 23 university endowments whose returns for the year ended June 30 have been tracked by Pensions & Investments as of Tuesday.
The endowment's target asset allocation is 59% global equities (up from 50% a year earlier), 17% diversifying strategies (up from 15%), 15% real assets (down from 20%) and 9% fixed income (down from 15%).
The center is an independent non-profit entity also known as the State University of Iowa Foundation that solicits contributions for the benefit of the University of Iowa.
Jim Bethea, vice president and chief investment officer, could not be immediately reached for further information.
