Endowment up 8.3% for FY 2010

Despite the economic turmoil, the University’s endowment has remained stable. Still, administrators say they are aware of the challenging road ahead.

The endowment was valued at $5.6 billion as of Sept. 30, according to Chief Investment Officer Kristin Gilbertson.

This is a $431 million — or 8.3 percent — increase since fiscal year 2009 ended on June 30, and an impressive financial rebound that many universities have not witnessed, according to Gilbertson.

“We are back within 6 to 7 percent of our value before the crisis, back in June 2008,” she said. “We have faced Armageddon and we have survived.”

However, she cautioned that this is not a time to become complacent, and Executive Vice President Craig Carnaroli echoed those sentiments.

“I’m concerned people’s expectations are going to be raised by the growth in the stock market and the performance of the endowment,” he said.

Carnaroli explained that administrators are making “tough decisions” in constraining spending but “that still doesn’t mean we’re over the hurdle.”

“The external environment is still going to pose challenges to us despite what we’ve been doing internally,” he added.

Carnaroli said travel and meal expenses are down about 25 percent in the first quarter, across the University, compared with the first quarter of FY ’09.

These are just a few of the ways the University has been saving money without making any drastic cutbacks, administrators agreed.

Since announcing an initiative to control expenditures in December 2008, the University has saved $54 million of its $58-million goal, according to Carnaroli.

The initiative will continue for another nine months, and the three primary objectives remain the same. The goals are to control human resources activities and compensation, limit travel and “discretionary expenditures,” such as publications, and proceed cautiously on capital projects, Carnaroli said.

Although financial aid requests have increased — and Carnaroli “doesn’t see need going down anytime soon” — he said the University is in a “strong position” overall.

Gilbertson agreed, adding that the investment return is 9.9 percent so far in FY ’10.

“We’ve seen a nice rebound in the equity portfolio,” she said. “We also don’t have a liquidity problem.”

Gilbertson noted that her team is not looking to make any drastic changes in the portfolio.

“We like what we own,” she said. “We will continuously reposition our portfolio, but nothing major.”

University President Amy Gutmann praised efforts to maintain investments in light of the fluctuating market.

“We’re very fortunate that our CIO and our investment board took strategic steps to put Penn in the best possible position,” she said, adding that, as a result, “we can continue to pursue our strategic priorities with full force.”

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