Bloomberg Features Endowment Manager

Dickinson’s total endowment is at its greatest value since inception

June 6, 2011

Bloomberg business and financial news in a recent article pays tribute to Dickinson’s endowment manager Alice Handy, founder and president of Investure LLP. The article details Handy’s success in regularly surpassing the endowment returns of financial heavyweights such as Harvard, Yale and the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index.  

The winning formula that Handy continually hones is reflected in the glowing reviews from her select clientele and most—importantly—in her results. Investure’s clients benefit from her “high-touch model,” limited clientele and a partnership approach to endowment investing that has enabled the consortium of colleges and foundations to invest together, gaining more leverage than any could have done individually. Until recently, Investure managed the endowments of 10 nonprofits; this year it added another, the Houston Endowment, a $1.5 billion foundation that supports education, the arts, health and the environment.  

Since its founding in 2003, Investure’s results have been indisputable. Last year The New York Times ran a similar article when announcing that Investure, which manages an $8 billion endowment consortium that includes Dickinson, Smith, Middlebury, Trinity, the University of Tulsa and four foundations, earned 16.3 percent on its $1.2 billion in the year concluding June 30, 2010. In comparison, Harvard earned 11 percent on its $27.6 billion, and Yale earned 8.9 percent on its $16.7 billion for the same time period.

“Dickinson College has been with Alice and Investure since the spring of 2007,” said Thomas A.K. Queenan, vice president for finance and administration at Dickinson. “The management team and the Board of Trustees have been extremely pleased with the high degree of  interaction Investure brings to establishing a long-term strategy for endowment management. Investure’s approach targets a return that allows our endowment to benefit in an up-market while minimizing the down-side risk inherent in a downward trending and volatile market.  We have seen the results of this model payoff as Dickinson’s total endowment is at its greatest value since inception at $361.7 million (as of April 30) and our return, fiscal year to date, is 20.3 percent (since June 30, 2010).”

Read the Bloomberg article.

Read a  previous story about Dickinson’s successful partnership with Investure.