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Governance And Policy | Insights Blog
5 Takeaways from the 2026 NACUBO Annual Meeting
If you've already read Inside Higher Ed's recap of the NACUBO Annual Meeting (held in Anaheim from July 18-21), "A Call to Meet the Moment at NACUBO,” you know federal policy uncertainty dominated...
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Governance And Policy | Insights Blog
Philanthropy and Fundraising: Trends & Leadership Insights
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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
FY25 NACUBO-Commonfund Study Released
U.S. Higher Education Endowments Report Stable Returns, Increase Spending to $33.4 Billion in FY25 The NACUBO-Commonfund Study of 657 colleges and universities reports a 10-year average return of...
Investment Strategy | Videos
Understanding the Private Equity Secondaries Market
This Commonfund Institute Online video explores the evolving landscape of the private equity secondaries market, focusing on both Limited Partner (LP)- and General Partner (GP)-led transactions.
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Featured
Governance and Policy | Insights Blog
Endowment Purpose and UPMIFA: What Nonprofit Boards Must Ask
Purpose | Principle I | Principles of Investment Stewardship The Question Every Endowment Fiduciary Should Be Asking For many nonprofit organizations, the endowment is the difference between... Learn Morecommunity_college
Risk Management | Articles
Risk: The Fuel that Generates Portfolio Returns
Risk management: the process of harnessing risk in pursuit of better investment returns In a broad sense, how should nonprofit institutional investors think about investment risk and risk management?...
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Investment Strategy | Articles
Viewpoint: A Different Kind of Climate Change
How have cultural, religious and social service institutions’ investment portfolios changed in response to the financial and market environment that has prevailed over the last several years? While...
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Private Equity | Private Equity Insights
How Liquid are Private Capital Investments?
In the wake of the Global Financial Crisis, institutional investors were rightfully concerned about the liquidity profiles of their long term portfolios. Although markets have recovered substantially...
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Governance And Policy | Articles
10-Point Fiduciary Checklist: Get Governance Right
Follow this checklist and you'll be on your way… For nonprofit organizations of all kinds, the regulatory and legislative landscape continues to become more rigorous—which should not come as a...
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Private Equity | Private Equity Insights
‘What, me? Illiquid?’
Although it has been five years since the collapse of Lehman Brothers—an event that transformed a bad recession into a global financial crisis—the scars of that traumatic episode remain etched in the...
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Mission-aligned Investing | Articles
ESG and Your Institution: Doing Well by Doing Good
Investing according to environmental, social and governance principles is maturing into a distinct discipline. Robust research results dispute the conventional wisdom about performance trade-offs. If...
Mission-Aligned Investing for Endowments & Foundations