September 26, 2013 | Read Time: 1 minute
Endowments at private foundations grew by 12 percent in 2012, a significant improvement after they lost a little under 1 percent in 2011, according to a study of 140 funds released today.
But that’s still less than the S&P 500 gain, which was 16 percent last year. Many foundations continue to seek to regain the nearly 26 percent loss in value they sustained during the 2008 financial crisis.
“We’re still seeing a period of recovery,” said John Griswold, executive director of Commonfund, a nonprofit investment-management firm that produced the survey along with the Council on Foundations. “Over all, it’s a fairly optimistic and good conclusion.”
Larger foundations fared slightly better than smaller ones.
The highest growth of 12.4 percent was seen at the 71 foundations that had assets of $101-million to $500-million. The 18 foundations with assets of more than $500-million realized an 11.9-percent return. And the 51 foundations with assets less than $101-million recorded an 11.4-percent increase.
Nearly half of the 140 foundations in the study, which together hold $78.7-billion, reported increases in giving last year, while 32 percent gave less and the rest were flat.
Dig deeper: For more endowment data, see The Chronicle’s annual study.
Send an e-mail to Doug Donovan.
