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Zero Hedge
ZeroHedge
21 May 2023


NextImg:These Are The World's Top 50 Endowment Funds

What do Harvard, the Church Commissioners for England, the NYC Metropolitan Museum of Art, and an entity on behalf of Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah all have in common? They all have endowment funds.

An endowment fund is the investment arm of nonprofit institutions like universities, charities, and churches. The purpose of the fund is to invest the organization’s assets to fuel future operations and other important projects.

The world’s largest endowment funds have billions in investable assets, making them sizable players in the finance sector. Here, using data from Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute, we take a closer look at the world’s largest endowment funds by total assets.

Overall, there are four main types of endowment structures.

In addition, each endowment fund has different structures in regards to withdrawals, use of funds, and their general investment philosophy.

The largest endowment funds can be compared on a grand economic scale, in terms of assets.

To put it all into perspective, the largest 50 endowment funds represent over a trillion dollars in assets. Or for a more singular example, look at Harvard’s fund, which has an endowment greater than the entire GDP of countries like Serbia, Bolivia, or Slovenia.

Here’s how the top 50 rank.

RankEndowment FundTotal AssetsRegion1Ensign Peak Advisors, Inc$124,000,000,000North America2Japan Science and Technology Agency$80,700,000,000Asia3Stanford University$75,143,751,000North America4Harvard Management Company$72,781,329,000North America5Yale University$56,223,259,000North America6Princeton University$44,460,038,000North America7MIT Investment Management Company$42,526,492,000North America8Duke University$30,385,835,000North America9New York University$27,840,535,000North America10Columbia University in the City of New York$24,698,782,000North America11University of Notre Dame$24,599,541,000North America12KAUST Investment Management Company$23,500,000,000Middle East13Emory University$20,458,905,000North America14Johns Hopkins University$18,037,751,000North America15Church Pension Fund$17,773,649,171North America16University of Chicago$17,276,136,000North America17Ohio State University$16,006,851,000North America18Northwestern University$15,855,683,000North America19Washington University in St Louis$15,103,569,000North America20Penn State University, Office of Investment Management$15,017,272,000North America21Notre Dame of Maryland University$14,938,580,253North America22Cornell University$14,850,618,000North America23University of Southern California$14,495,427,000North America24Vanderbilt University$13,883,495,000North America25University of Virginia Investment Management Compnay$13,811,076,000North America26University of Tokyo$13,285,270,000Asia27National University of Singapore$12,626,100,000Asia28UNC Management Company$11,986,857,000North America29University of Michigan Office of Investments$11,900,000,000North America30General Authority of Awqaf$11,238,371,192Middle East31Church Commissioners for England$11,197,700,000Europe32J.Paul Getty Trust$10,778,927,000North America33Trinity Wall Street Episcopal Church$9,932,419,000North America34Unitersity of Utah$9,827,602,000North America35Brown University$9,793,108,000North America36Kamehameha Schools$9,326,013,000North America37Dartmouth College$9,078,340,000North America38Hong Kong Jockey Club$8,603,580,000Asia39Rice University$8,424,555,000North America40The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust$8,313,588,000North America41University of Pittsburgh$8,011,856,000North America42Nature Conservancy$7,870,380,000North America43University of Toronto Asset Management Corporation$7,329,730,000North America44University of Rochester$7,149,025,000North America45Virginia Commonwealth University$6,985,495,306North America46Purdue University$6,755,500,000North America47University of Miami$6,582,600,000North America48University of Minnesota$6,304,508,000North America49Caltech Investment Office$6,252,584,000North America50Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City$5,588,554,000North America

The largest endowment fund, Ensign Peak Advisors, is based in Salt Lake City, Utah, and manages the assets for the Mormon Church (officially known as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints). The church itself has over 16 million members worldwide and is the fourth largest church in America.

The Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) is a national research and development agency that plays a core role in promoting technology, innovation, and science within society. In 1995, Japan’s government passed the Science and Technology Basic Plan and the JST came to life and now has over $80 billion in assets as well as offices in Paris, Washington, Singapore, and Beijing.

Just two funds come from the Middle East. The King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) with $23.5 billion and the General Authority of Awqaf. KAUST is ranked 95th amongst universities in the world and made history in the country by being Saudi Arabia’s first mixed-gender university.

The General Authority of Awqaf has $11 billion in assets and was established as a public authority to manage endowments and enhance Saudi Arabia’s various goals for societal development. “Awqaf” in Arabic loosely translates to assets that are donated or purchased for general or specific charitable causes that are socially beneficial.

On the environmental side is the Nature Conservancy, which has $7.8 billion in assets. The charity is estimated to have protected more than 100 million acres of land.

Universities are one leading category from the world of endowment funds, particularly those from the United States. In fact, universities make up 39 of the top 50 endowment funds, with 35 of them based in America.

Historically, Harvard has been the largest, but Stanford has edged ahead in recent years. Stanford has $75 billion in assets compared to Harvard’s $73 billion. These vast amounts of money have not gone unnoticed, and elite universities are facing mounting criticism in some circles.

“When Harvard’s total admitted freshman class is 1,400 people—and they have an endowment that is the GDP of El Salvador—they’re not a nonprofit, they’re a hedge fund educating the children of their investors.” 

– PROFESSOR SCOTT GALLOWAY

With student debt rising to $1.6 trillion, it’s likely these universities may face greater criticism around how they use the wealth available to them in endowment funds.

The top endowment funds carry considerable influence within the world of finance. While they all have billions to invest, each has very different objectives and intentions on how to deploy their capital.

And despite being non-profit organizations, endowment funds are seeing their overall assets exceed those held by many other investment funds, such as sovereign wealth fundshedge funds, and private equity firms.