Who to Contact
Ways to Give
Gifts to the university's endowment are carefully invested to yield a steady, reliable source of income in perpetuity. Endowment income provides financial stability and allows the university to implement long-range plans. The amount to be spent, called the payout rate, is set by the Board of Trustees to secure and increase the endowment's buying power.
Student Scholarships
Faculty and Departmental Support
Named Endowment Funds
Endowment Performance
Investment Strategy
Student Scholarships
Endowed scholarships permanently funded by alumni, parents and friends provide an important source of financial aid for SLU students. SLU hopes to increase significantly the number of endowed scholarships in order to recruit and retain the best students.
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Faculty and Departmental Support
A strong endowment enables St. Lawrence to offer competitive salaries, maintain the faculty at an optimum size, and support teaching and research -- all of which are essential to attracting and sustaining an energized and productive faculty. Endowment funds enrich the academic experience for students by providing support for endowed professorships, visiting artists and lecturers, faculty development grants, and awards for innovative teaching.
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Named Endowment Funds
Often donors wish to associate their philanthropy with certain types of public recognition.
The university has established minimum fund levels required to name endowed funds for a variety of purposes across the spectrum of institutional priorities. Donors may take as many as five years to reach the minimum levels for their fund within an approximate five year period.
| Endowment Fund Minimums |
| Full Professorship |
$1,500,000 |
| Associate Professorship |
$1,000,000 |
| Assistant Professorship |
$750,000 |
| Head Coach's Position |
$500,000 |
| Lectureship |
$100,000 |
| Scholarship Fund |
$75,000 |
| Faculty Development Fund |
$75,000 |
| Departmental Fund |
$50,000 |
| Equipment Fund |
$50,000 |
| Fellowships |
$50,000 |
| Desktop Computer Fund |
$30,000 |
| Student Enrichment Fund |
$25,000 |
| Library Acquisition Fund |
$10,000 |
Endowment Performance
The market value of St. Lawrence University’s endowment as of the fiscal year ended June 30, 2009, was $188,161,382. The endowment provided $12.8 million of funding to the operating budget for the 2008-2009 fiscal year.
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Investment Strategy
This year the Investment Committee of the Board of Trustees contracted with Cambridge Associates (CA) to provide their Cambridge Capital Advisory Services on the entire pooled endowment portfolio ($177 million of the total $188 million). They provide advice on asset allocation, manager structure, manager selection, and make recommendations from time to time on investment objectives and policies, investment management structures, tactical investment opportunities and custody and cash management arrangements. They provide investment performance reports, proprietary research reports on various topics, and access to their proprietary databases. In addition, they generate meeting agendas and minutes, and provide extensive support for the annual audit of the University’s investments for the public auditors. CA has provided the complex support required by a significant portfolio such as St. Lawrence University’s endowment in a market environment such as the one we find ourselves in today.
The endowment felt the impact of the difficult environment in the investment market this year losing 18.5% on a dollar weighted basis for the year from July 1, 2008 through June 30, 2009. This compares favorably to a custom benchmark of (20.1%) and the S&P 500 Index of (26.2%). The University’s portfolio total return is the same as the median return of CA’s 206 institutions that have reported so far. The custom benchmark is based on returns of a portfolio with an asset allocation of 25% domestic equities earning the Russell 3000 Index, 21% international equities earning the MSCI ACWI ex-US Index, 20%% fixed income earning the BC Aggregate Index, 24% of the portfolio invested in hedge funds earning the HFRI Fund of Funds Index, 5% invested in private equity earning 150% of the Russell 2000 and 5% in real assets earning the DJ UBS Commodities Index.
During 2008-09, the University’s spending from endowment, which is determined by a formula to balance current and future needs of the University, was set at 5.5% of a three-year moving average of the market value of the endowment. For the year, total endowment spending was $12,800,000.
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