Endowment
Missing from Harvard’s Annual Endowment Report This Year: Underlying Data
Each fall, Harvard releases an annual financial report that provides insights into the University’s budget and investment strategy. For years, the endowment section of the report looked largely the same, with data on HMC’s targets, as well as returns across asset categories. But this fall, it abandoned the longtime practice of disclosing investment performance by asset class.
Harvard Endowment Value Falls $2.3 Billion Following First Negative Returns Since 2016
The value of Harvard University’s endowment fell by $2.3 billion in fiscal year 2022 after the Harvard Management Company delivered a 1.8 percent loss on its investments — its first year of negative returns since 2016.
Harvard Has Reported Positive Endowment Returns for Five Straight Years. That Could Change this Year.
With high inflation and rising interest rates rattling financial markets, the Harvard Management Company, the University’s investment arm, could be on the brink of delivering its first negative annual returns in five years.
Harvard Says the Endowment Tax Is a Blow to Higher Education. Is It?
Harvard has decried a bill passed under the Trump administration that includes a tax on wealthy university endowments. But is the impact of the provision as significant as the University claims it to be?
Harvard Bolsters Investments in Google, Semiconductor Industry
The Harvard Management Company shored up its investments in the technology industry last quarter, boosting its shares of Alphabet — the parent company of Google — by nearly 40 percent while increasing its holdings in the semiconductor companies.
Harvard Management Company Endorses Some Environmental Regulations in SEC Letter
The Harvard Management Company advocated for new environmental disclosure rules under consideration by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, while pushing back against the proposal’s broadest reporting mandate in a letter to the SEC.
GOP Congressman Takes Aim at Harvard’s Potential Endowment Links to Chinese Companies
U.S. Representative Gregory F. Murphy (R-N.C.) called on Harvard to disclose and divest its endowment from any potential holdings in Chinese companies deemed a threat to national security by the federal government in a letter to the school last week.
Harvard Endowment Shares of Meta, Google Balloon in First Quarter
The Harvard Management Company more than tripled its shares of Meta Platforms — formerly known as Facebook — as it saw nearly all of its stock holdings decline in value during the first three months of 2022.
Bacow Presses Lawmakers on University Endowment Tax, Foreign Funding Disclosures During Trip to Washington
Last week University President Lawrence S. Bacow traveled to Washington, D.C., to lobby against taxes on large university endowments and tightened federal regulations for foreign funding disclosures.
After Initial Sell-Off, Harvard Endowment Has Slowly Increased Number of Public Holdings Under Narvekar
The number of stocks in the Harvard endowment has slowly crept back up in recent years after the Harvard Management Company sold off the vast majority of its public holdings when N.P. “Narv” Narvekar took over as its CEO.
Harvard Divestment Activists Help Peer School Organizers File Legal Complaints
Following guidance from a student divestment group at Harvard, activists from five peer universities filed legal complaints last month in an effort to push their schools to divest from the fossil fuel industry.
Harvard Spent $560,000 on Federal Lobbying in Biden’s First Year
Harvard spent $560,000 in federal lobbying during President Joe Biden’s first year in office, topping the Ivy League for the fifth time in the past six years.
‘A Black Hole of Information’: Experts Evaluate Harvard’s Net-Zero Emissions Pledge
As the Harvard Managment Company works toward achieving its pledge, climate and financial experts weighed in on the challenges the company faces, including difficulties obtaining data on and measuring the emissions of its partners.
New Harvard Class Explores the School's Legacy of Slavery
A new Harvard Graduate School of Education class is developing a series of case studies as a part of the 2019 Presidential Initiative on Harvard & The Legacy of Slavery.
Bacow Defends Foreign Research Collaboration Following Lieber's Conviction
University President Lawrence S. Bacow reiterated in a Thursday interview Harvard’s commitment to academic collaboration with foreign scholars following the federal conviction of Chemistry professor Charles M. Lieber.
Ten Stories That Shaped 2021
At Harvard, 2021 was a year marked by change. The school’s long-awaited return to in-person operations injected new life into a campus that had been left dormant for over a year by Covid-19. And in an unexpected shift, the University announced its intention to divest its endowment from fossil fuels after a decade of public pressure. Separately, faculty controversies — including a federal conviction and a high-profile departure — ignited debates that rippled across academia. Below, The Crimson looks back at the 10 stories that shaped the last year at Harvard.
University CFO Says Harvard ‘Moving in the Right Direction,’ Despite Pandemic Costs
Harvard chief financial officer Thomas J. Hollister said the University’s finances are “moving in the right direction” in a Wednesday interview, though he cautioned that officials remain alert in the ever-changing landscape of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Harvard Management Company Sells Holdings in Tech, Increases Facebook Investments in Third Quarter
HMC sold its holdings in several technology and pharmaceutical companies while increasing its investments in Facebook in the third quarter of 2021.
Despite Historic Returns, Harvard Endowment Still Trails Ivy League Peers
Though the Harvard Management Company reported record-breaking returns last Thursday, several financial experts said it still lags behind the performance of key financial indices and its peer institutions.
Harvard Ended Fiscal Year 2021 with $283 Million Surplus, Despite Losing $124 Million in Revenue
Harvard finished the fiscal year ending in June 2021 with a budget surplus of $283 million, despite a $124 million drop in revenue, according to the University’s annual financial report released Thursday.
Harvard’s Endowment Soars to $53.2 Billion, Reports 33.6% Returns
Harvard Management Company returned 33.6 percent on its investments for the fiscal year ending in June 2021, skyrocketing the value of the University’s endowment to $53.2 billion, the largest sum in its history.
Experts Predict Strong Harvard Endowment Returns Ahead of October Report
Several financial experts predicted that the Harvard endowment will post returns of at least 20 percent for fiscal year 2021, which would bring the endowment to its largest sum in history.
Celebrating Harvard’s Divestment Decision, Fossil Fuel Divest Organizers Lay Out Next Steps
Fossil Fuel Divest Harvard plans to encourage the University to invest in green economic initiatives after Harvard’s surprise announcement that it intends to divest from fossil fuels.
Divest Harvard Kicks Off In-Person Semester with Rally Outside University Hall
Roughly 80 student protestors with Divest Harvard — a student organization calling for the University to sell its investments in the fossil fuel industry — staged a “visual waterline” outside University Hall to represent the rally’s focus on rising sea levels.
Bacow Made $1.2 Million During First Full Year of Presidency, Financial Disclosures Show
University President Lawrence S. Bacow earned $1,224,889 in 2019, his first full year as Harvard’s president, according to financial documents filed by the University earlier this month.