By making a gift to Balliol's General Endowment, you will help us to secure the College’s financial future and continue to offer a first-class education for our students.
The College's endowment provides a very significant proportion of our annual income, and is essential to Balliol's ongoing support for scholarships, bursaries and hardship grants; for tutorial fellowships across the arts, humanities and the sciences, and for the maintenance of the College's historic buildings.
Make your gift to the General Endowment here.
The value of the College’s endowment funds stood at £82.1m as at 31 July 2014, up £5.4m from one year ago on a like-for-like basis. Over the 12 months to 31 July 2014 the investments performed in line with market conditions, with a total return after expenses of 6%. For the five year period to 31 July 2014, endowment returns were 7.9% per annum, excluding the value in our private equity portfolio which we have built over recent years. These holdings are beginning to mature and we anticipate a positive return in the coming years.
The College’s endowment portfolio is overseen by a revised Investment Committee comprising the Master, the Finance Bursar and several Fellows, along with several external finance professionals, the majority of whom are Old Members. The committee’s investment objectives are to achieve maximum total returns in the long term, while reducing market risks where possible, while generating sufficient assets to meet the College’s annual spending needs. As noted in the 2012/13 Annual Report, the College has now reduced its spending rule, based on a four-year rolling average of endowment value, to a drawdown of 3.75%. Our aim is to promote sustainability and intergenerational equity for future students and Fellows.