Penn’s endowment grew by $1.4 billion last year, with a 7.1% investment return

The University of Pennsylvania’s endowment grew by $1.4 billion for the year ending June 30, topping $22.3 billion, according to university financial statements.

The endowment growth, reported in late September, was driven by a 7.1% investment return and represented the university’s largest increase in three years, according to the Philadelphia Business Journal. Still, the investment gains were lower than those reported by some other Ivy League schools. Brown and Columbia Universities, for instance, posted returns upwards of 11%.

Over the past five years, Penn’s endowment has averaged a 9.6% annual return. That includes a 1.3% return last year and less than 1% return in 2022, according to the Business Journal, following a 38% return in 2021, when universities across the country posted huge gains.

This past year’s endowment growth at Penn includes $216 million in new gifts received by the university. The Business Journal reported that was a $3 million decrease from gifts the year prior. Penn faced backlash last year from some donors who accused the university of tolerating antisemitism; president Liz Magill resigned in December after testifying before Congress that calls for the genocide of Jews wouldn’t necessarily violate the university’s code of conduct.

Penn’s endowment — the seventh largest among national universities — comprises 8,800 individual funds that support the university’s schools, centers, and the University of Pennsylvania Health System.

The university spent $1.1 billion from its endowment last year, up $90 million from the year before. Penn says its endowment now supports 19% of its academic spending, compared to 11% a decade earlier.