How The Chronicle Compiled Its 2015 Report on Nonprofit Endowments

December 1, 2015 | Read Time: 1 minute

The Chronicle’s 2015 report on endowments contains information on 298 nonprofit organizations, including how 233 of those endowments are invested across eight asset classes.

To compile the information, The Chronicle sent surveys to 745 of the largest nonprofits in the country and 502 others, representing a wide cross-section of endowments large and small. Most of this year’s list is composed of large groups, 195 with endowments worth $100 million or more at the end of fiscal year 2014 and 101 organizations with less. (Two groups on our list did not include information on the value of their endowments in 2014.)

Much of the data on the fair market value of colleges’ endowments came from the Council for Aid to Education’s Voluntary Support of Education survey, as indicated by footnotes.

As with previous years, the largest portion of our list is colleges (85), followed by private foundations (45) and community foundations (30).

If you have comments or questions about the survey or would like to suggest a group you think we should include in future reports, send an email to research@philanthropy.com.

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About the Author

Peter Olsen-Phillips

Contributor

Peter Olsen-Phillips worked with Reporters and editors on the data that helped to power the editorial team’s work for The Chronicle of Philanthropy. He collected and analyzed the financial data behind some of The Chronicle’s annual reports — including surveys on nonprofit endowments, corporations’ charitable giving, and the Philanthropy 400, The Chronicle’s annual ranking of the charities that raise the most in private donations. Prior to joining The Chronicle, Peter covered money in politics as a Reporter at the Sunlight Foundation. He is a Georgetown University graduate.