The foundation's endowment update did not say whether the returns were gross or net of fees and did not provide returns by asset class.
For the most recent fiscal year, the overall negative return for the foundation's endowment portfolio reflected a challenging market environment in the public markets. 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 foundation's endowment return also fell below the median return of -4.1% among the 15 university endowments whose returns for the year ended June 30 have been tracked by Pensions & Investments as of Monday.
The foundation's endowment portfolio has a larger allocation to global public equities than many of its university endowment peers with an actual allocation of 44% as of June 30. The report on the foundation's website cited its global equity asset class exceeding "the one-year market benchmark return of -15.0%, due to strong performance by UMFIA's global equity investments."
As of June 30, the actual allocation was 44% global equities, 28% private equity, 25.8% credit and reinsurance, and 2.2% Treasury bonds.
Endowment assets are managed by University of Minnesota Foundation Investment Advisors, a non-profit subsidiary of the foundation.
Foundation spokesman Lloyd Latty could not be immediately reached for further information.
