Endowments and foundations had more than 35% of their portfolios invested in alternative assets at the end of 2024, according to Preqin’s Institutional Allocation Study 2025. Private equity was the largest alternative asset class with a 16.9% allocation, followed by hedge funds at 12.9%.
Equity had the largest share of endowment and foundation assets at 32.6%.
More than 60% of endowments and foundations were either considering or investing in private equity over the next year. That was followed by 53% and more than 51% that were considering or investing in private debt and hedge funds, respectively. Less than half said that about real estate and infrastructure.
Endowments and foundations decreased allocations to traditional assets and increased alternative asset weights between 2020 and 2024. The 2024 allocations differ from above since this comparison uses a smaller dataset. Equity, fixed income and cash allocations dropped 4.8, 5.4 and 1.8 percentage points, respectively, to 39.3%, 13.5% and 2.9%.
Alternatives increased to 37.2% from 26.1% during this time. Private equity and hedge funds had significantly higher allocations.
