Bowdoin College's $2.5 billion endowment returned -7.1% for the fiscal year ended June 30, according to a news release on the Brunswick, Maine-based college's website.
For the three, five and 10 years ended June 30, the endowment returned an annualized 15.7%, 14.7% and 13.3%, respectively.
The endowment had returned a net 57.4% for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2021, the second-highest return tracked by Pensions & Investments last year.
The college did not specify whether the returns for the most recent fiscal year were gross or net of fees. In the Oct. 5 news release, the college cited a "highly volatile period" for financial markets in reporting its negative returns for the period.
The return also fell short of the median return of -3.1% among the 21 endowments whose returns for the year ended June 30 have been tracked by Pensions & Investments as of Monday.
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.
"Bowdoin's investment return, while negative, compares favorably with equity and bond markets, which registered losses in the double digits over this very challenging period," said Clayton Rose, the college's president, in the news release.
Returns by asset class, and the actual allocation of the endowment, were not provided. The news release stated that the portfolio is "diversified across different asset classes, including domestic and international equities, fixed income, private equity, venture capital, real estate, and absolute return strategies."
College spokeswoman Mary Baumgartner and spokesman Scott Hood could not be immediately reached for further information.
