IU’s endowment rises to ninth among public universities

By Barbara Coffman

The endowment, managed by the IU Foundation, grew 3.6 percent over a period when the average higher education endowment at a public institution declined 6.4 percent. The rankings appear in an annual study conducted by the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO) in partnership with TIAA-CREF, a financial services organization for educators.

“IU’s endowment grows in two ways,” said Curt Simic, president of the IU Foundation, which oversees the investment strategy for IU’s endowment. “Donors continue to make gifts to the endowment, and the endowment earns investment returns. With the downturn in the economy, the returns have not been positive, but donors are supporting IU in record numbers, and their gifts are more than offsetting the market losses.”

IU had a record 100,795 donors in 2002. The market value of the endowment increased from $922 million in fiscal 2001 to $955 million in fiscal 2002.

“On top of that,” said Simic, “we are happy to report that giving and the number of donors in the first six months of this fiscal year are both up over the same period last year.”

In spite of the economy, from July 1 through Dec. 31, 2002, IU had 1,466 more donors and $12.4 million more in gifts than July through December 2001.

The ranking of the 654 participating institutions for the 2002 fiscal year is published on NACUBO’s Web site:

http://www.nacubo.org