Brown University Endowment Returns 11.3% in Fiscal 2024

Brown University announced on Friday that the university’s endowment achieved an 11.3% return in fiscal 2024, the one-year period that ended June 30. Assets of the fund grew to $7.2 billion from $6.6 billion, a combination of $728 million in investment gains and $203 million in gifts during the fiscal year. The fund contributed approximately $281 million to the university’s operating budget.

The fund announced annualized three-, five-, 10- and 20-year returns of 2.8%, 13.1%, 10.8% and 9.5%, respectively.

“It is a privilege to report once again that the market value of Brown’s endowment stands at a new all-time high, as does the level of support it provides for the University’s mission,” said Brown CIO Jane Dietze in a statement. “Our investment performance this year and across the last two decades is a testament to steady guidance from our investment committee, supportive alumni, an exceptional group of external investment managers and a dedicated team in the Investment Office.”

Brown, so far the third Ivy League university to release its investment returns for fiscal 2024, followed a trend among its peers: stronger performance relative to the prior fiscal year, in which most endowments had published single-digit, or even negative, returns during a year in which the public markets boomed. For fiscal 2024, the endowments of peers Columbia University and Dartmouth College returned 11.5% and 8.4%, respectively.

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Brown achieved a 2.7% return in fiscal 2023 (fourth among the eight Ivy League institutions), and a negative 4.6% return in fiscal 2022 (seventh). As at its peers, the university’s endowment is heavily allocated to private markets; according to the fund’s fiscal 2023 report, 40% of the portfolio was allocated to private equity, 21% to absolute return strategies, 15% to equities and 7% each to fixed income and cash.