Yale University endowment

The Yale University endowment (valued at $25.4 billion as of 2016) is the world's second-largest university endowment, after the Harvard University endowment, and has a reputation as one of the best-performing investment portfolios in American higher education. The endowment was established at Yale University, then Yale College, in 1718 from an initial fund of £562 provided by Elihu Yale and has grown to more than $25 billion in value over the ensuing 300 years. It is managed by the Yale Investments Office.

Yale University was founded as "the Collegiate School" in 1701. In 1718 Elihu Yale sold a portion of his collection of gems and furniture to provide an initial fund of £562 for the establishment of the school's endowment. Since 1985 the Chief Investment Officer of Yale has been alumnus David Swensen. As of 2013 the chairman of the Yale Investment Committee, which provides oversight of the endowment, was Douglas A. Warner III.

As of June 2016, the endowment was valued at $25.4 billion. Since the mid 1980s, the endowment has generated annual returns for the university of approximately 12.6-percent, with a portion of the annual return forming part of the university's operating budget and the remainder reinvested to grow the size of the endowment. Spending from revenue earned off the endowment accounted for $1.2 billion of the university's operating budget in 2017.

The endowment has become known for seeking out "unconventional assets" and for investments in emerging businesses. In the 1990s it invested in Google and Amazon and was later an early investor in Facebook, LinkedIn, and Airbnb. As of 2016, its venture capital investments had averaged 93-percent returns over the preceding two decades.

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