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Year-End Update and 2026 Investment Outlook
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Investment Strategy | Articles
Mind the Gap: The Strategic Risk of Skipping a Vintage in Private Equity
Private equity (inclusive of buyouts, growth equity, and venture capital) remains a compelling long-term asset class, but recent periods of muted distributions and below-average returns have created...
Perspectives | Press Releases
FY24 NACUBO-Commonfund Study Released
U.S. Higher Education Endowments Report 6.8% 10-Year Average Annual Return, Increase Spending to a Collective $30.0 Billion Annual NACUBO-Commonfund Study shows participating institutions spent...
Investment Strategy | Videos
Chief Investment Officers Share Their Thoughts at Forum 2025
Commonfund hosted its annual Commonfund Forum 2025, March 9-11th, in Orlando, Florida. The agenda included a range of sessions on relevant topics for institutional investors. This Forum Spotlight...
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Featured
Investment Strategy | Videos
A Practical Guide to Buyouts and Growth Equity
Are you curious about the evolving world of buyouts and growth equity investing? In this insightful Commonfund Institute Online workshop, Tor Martinsen from the buyouts and growth equity team at CF... Learn More
Private Equity | Private Equity Insights
Stellex Capital Management
In celebration of Black History Month, Commonfund Institute Executive Director, George Suttles, and Commonfund Director, Nicole Melwood, interview Ray Whiteman, Managing Partner and co-Founder of...
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Governance And Policy | Videos
Exploring Foundations’ Response to COVID-19
Earlier in February at the 2021 Yale Philanthropy Conference, our own George Suttles, Executive Director of Commonfund Institute hosted a panel which included Tim Yates, President and CEO of...
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Investment Strategy | Private Equity Insights
The Tech Effect and Direct Venture Growth Investing
The venture growth and late stage venture capital (“VC”) market has matured over the last 10 years, and direct investing has emerged as an attractive strategy for Limited Partners (“LPs”) to...
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Private Equity | Private Equity Insights
2021 Private Markets Investor Sentiment Survey
Institutional investors continue to increase allocations to private strategies. Commonfund Capital’s fourth annual private markets investor sentiment survey shows trends continue despite the pandemic...
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Governance And Policy | Videos
Implications of Increased Spending for Foundations
In this Commonfund Xchange, Commonfund Institute Executive Director, George Suttles, moderated a discussion with two leading practitioners: Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation Chief Finance and...
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Investment Strategy | Private Equity Insights
How to Measure Private Equity Investments
Private capital investors use a particular set of quantitative and qualitative measures to assess performance. While the standard benchmarks used for marketable securities are sometimes applied to...
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Governance And Policy | Articles
Viewpoint | Meeting the Moment
Some foundations have responded to the call of mission by increasing spending in response to exceptional needs created by COVID-19. But there is a trade-off: the potential erosion of endowment value...
Diversity | Spotlight
Marvin Owens, Senior Director, NAACP Economic Department
Founded in 1909 in response to the ongoing violence against Black people around the country, the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) is the largest and most pre-eminent...
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Investment Strategy | Videos
Top Hedge Fund Investors - Ten Years Later
In July 2010, I published the book Top Hedge Fund Investors: Stories, Strategies, and Advice. My co-author and I interviewed nine leading allocators to hedge funds, including one Mark Anson, who...
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Private Equity | Private Equity Insights
Secondaries Market During the COVID Pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact the world in unprecedented ways. There is still much uncertainty including about when a vaccine will be ready and how schools reopening in the fall will...
Market Commentary | Articles
Fiscal Year-End and Mid-Year 2020 Market and Investment Review
As we enter the new fiscal year, and Commonfund’s 50th year of operations, we leave behind what will likely be remembered as one of the most challenging and memorable fiscal years for the...
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Governance And Policy | Videos
Cultural Institutions and the COVID-19 Crisis
Board members, investment committees, and senior staff are charged with the fiduciary responsibility to make informed decisions when guiding the investment activities of their organization. The...
Implications of the U.S. Arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro
This past weekend U.S. Special Forces launched a large-scale military operation in Venezuela and in the process captured and arrested Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores....