Wellesley College’s $3 billion long-term investment pool of endowment assets posted a return of 7.8% for the fiscal year ended June 30.
The return fell short of the policy benchmark of 8.4% for the period, according to a report on its website from CIO Deborah Kuenstner.
For the five and 10 years ended June 30, the investment pool returned an annualized 10.1% and 8.6%, respectively, above the respective benchmarks of 9.5% and 7.8%.
The investment pool had returned 4.2% for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2023.
For the most recent fiscal year, the return fell short of the median return of 9.9% among the 47 college and university endowments whose returns have been tracked by Pensions & Investments as of Nov. 14.
By asset class, the investment pool’s best performer was public equities, which returned 18.2% for the fiscal year ended June 30 (below its benchmark return of 19.4%); followed by the semi-marketable asset class (which includes absolute return strategies), with a return of 9.8% (above its benchmark return of 8.7%); cash and equivalents, 5.6% (5.5%); and long-term alternatives, 1.9% (2.6%).
As of June 30, the actual allocation was 41% long-term alternatives, 30% public equities, 21% semi-marketable assets and 8% fixed income and cash.
