The 2025 Council on Foundations–Commonfund Study shows double-digit returns across the board and a notable swing in how family foundations are positioned relative to their peers.
The 2025 Council on Foundations-Commonfund Study of Investment of Endowments for Private and Community Foundations (CCSF, or the “Study”), an annual survey released in August, examines investment performance, governance and management practices at hundreds of private and community foundation endowments over the 2025 calendar year.
This year’s analysis focuses on 49 private family foundations, up from 39 in 2024, and compares them against 171 total private foundation respondents, up from 154 last year. Because the respondent pool shifts somewhat from year to year, the year-over-year comparisons below should be read as directional trends across the two cohorts rather than a change measured on the same set of institutions.
Family foundations in this year's Study reported $14.2 billion in total endowment assets, against $96.7 billion for total private foundation respondents. The median endowment value for family foundations in 2025 was $145.5 million compared with $189.1 million for total private foundations in the Study.
The top-line results
Performance
Returns were positive across every time horizon in this year's Study, and materially stronger than the year before. Family foundations reported a 14.0 percent average 1-year return, essentially in line with the 14.1 percent posted by total private foundations. Three-year average returns jumped to 12.6 percent for family foundations and 12.4 percent for total private foundations — a sharp rebound from 3.2 and 3.1 percent, respectively, in last year's Study, as a weak year rolled out of the trailing window. Five-year returns held steady at roughly 8.0 percent for both groups.
Longer-dated returns also improved: family foundations reported 9.3 percent 10-year and 8.3 percent 15-year annualized returns, both up from 7.8 percent a year ago. One shift worth flagging — over 20 years, total private foundations edged ahead of family foundations, reporting 7.2 percent versus family foundations' 7.1 percent, while last year family foundations led on this measure, 6.9 percent to 6.4 percent.
| Family Foundations 2024 | Family Foundations 2025 | Total Private Foundations 2024 | Total Private Foundations 2025 | |
| 1-Year | 10.0 | 14.0 | 10.3 | 14.1 |
| 3-Year | 3.2 | 12.6 | 3.1 | 12.4 |
| 5-Year | 7.7 | 8.0 | 7.8 | 8.0 |
| 10-Year | 7.8 | 9.3 | 7.3 | 9.0 |
| 15-Year | 7.8 | 8.3 | 7.5 | 8.1 |
| 20-Year | 6.9 | 7.1 | 6.4 | 7.2 |
Asset allocation
The most striking change in this year's Study is a reversal in how family foundations are positioned relative to total private foundations. Because the 2024 and 2025 Studies draw on different (non-matched) sets of respondents, these figures should be read as independent snapshots rather than an exact trend — the comparison is directional rather than a like-for-like comparison of the same cohort.
With that caveat in mind, in the 2024 Study, family foundations ran heavier on alternative strategies (52 percent vs. 45 percent for total private foundations) and lighter on U.S. equities (19 percent vs. 26 percent). In 2025, family foundations reported a smaller allocation to alternatives than total private foundations (37.9 percent vs. 45.8 percent) and a larger allocation to U.S. equities (26.9 percent vs. 24.9 percent). Family foundations also carried a notably larger allocation to non-U.S. equities than the broader group, 21.8 percent vs. 16.3 percent.
Within alternatives, the composition also appears different between the two years. Marketable alternatives — the largest single alternatives sleeve for family foundations in the 2024 Study at 17 percent — was reported at 7.5 percent in 2025, now roughly on par with private equity (9.9 percent) and venture capital (9.3 percent) as the leading strategies. Private credit (2.5 percent) and sustainable investments (1.1 percent) remained smaller allocations but both increased year over year. Given that alternatives allocations typically move slowly due to lock-up structures, some of this shift may reflect differences in the respondent pool between the two Studies rather than actual reallocation, and it shouldn't be read as a change occurring within the same set of foundations.
Spending
Family foundations reported an average stated policy spend rate of 5.2 percent, matching the 5.2 percent reported by total private foundations. Last year, family foundations reported a slightly higher rate, 5.3 percent versus 5.2 percent. Meeting the IRS minimum of 5 percent was by far the most common approach for both groups and was roughly unchanged from last year: 71.4 percent of family foundations and 61 percent of total private foundations reported using it. Deciding on an appropriate rate each year was the next most common approach among family foundations, at 28.6 percent. (Multiple responses were allowed.)
Responsible investing practices
Adoption of responsible investment practices continued to grow. In the 2025 Study, 43 percent of family foundations said they seek to include investments ranking high on ESG criteria, up from 38 percent last year; total private foundations reported 28 percent, up from 26 percent. Family foundations also reported that 29 percent exclude or screen out investments inconsistent with the institution's mission and 33 percent allocate a portion of the endowment to investments that further the institution's mission. Twenty percent of family foundations said they seek to include investments with diverse managers, up from 18 percent in 2024, and total private foundations reported the same 20 percent rate this year.
This year's results tell a more layered story than "returns were strong." Every horizon in the Study posted gains, but the more consequential development for family foundations is a reversal in positioning. A group that ran overweight alternatives and underweight U.S. equities a year ago now sits on the other side of that line relative to its peers, a shift worth understanding rather than taking at face value. Spending and responsible-investing patterns, by contrast, look like steadier multi-year trends. The most useful way to read this data isn't to match any single figure, but to use it as a check on your own foundation's reasoning, and we encourage you to request the full Study to evaluate your performance and positioning against your benchmark or peers, or participate in the next Study.
Source: 2025 and 2024 Council on Foundations–Commonfund Study of Investment of Endowments for Private and Community Foundations. Asset allocation figures are dollar-weighted.
