Endowment Performance

Since Harvard Management Company established its current, highly diversified asset mix and investment strategies for the endowment in 1991...

Since Harvard Management Company established its current, highly diversified asset mix and investment strategies for the endowment in 1991, financial returns have been strong—and handsomely ahead of market results in general. The annualized rate of return for the past five years (even including the losses in fiscal years 2001 and 2002) is 11.8 percent—more than twice market benchmarks. For the past decade, the annualized rate of return has been 15.9 percent, 4 points more than market returns.  
Chart by Stephen Anderson
   

Most popular

All That’s Unseen charts the Harvard graduate’s uneasy journey from Appalachia to Cambridge and back.  

Social Media Use and Adult Depression

A survey reveals suprising links between social media use and depression in adults.

The University will compensate families of those whose remains were sold and establish a scholarship to honor anatomical donors.

Explore More From Current Issue

A football player in a white jersey evades a defender in a green uniform on the field.

Despite personnel losses, Crimson captain Xaviah Bascon is upbeat about the 2026 season.

A woman with curly blonde hair sits casually against a stone wall, wearing a black top and jeans.

Chloe Chapin trains her Broadway costume designer’s eye on the history of men’s fashion.

A busy classroom filled with students working at computers, colorful decor, and a bright atmosphere.

In 2004, a frenzy spread across Harvard Yard in days. Four billion users later, we are only just catching up.