HANOVER — Dartmouth College this week reported a 10.2 percent growth in its endowment for the fiscal year that ended in June, bringing the fund to an all-time high of $4.96 billion after a slight drop in fiscal 2016.
Administrators said the endowment growth came mostly from the college’s investments, which grew 14.6 percent for a net increase of $630 million.
“We are pleased with these results,” Alice Ruth, a 1983 alumna who was named chief investment officer in March, said in a college news release. “Dartmouth’s outstanding returns are a direct result of partnerships with world-class managers, which bring breadth and depth to the portfolio in service of Dartmouth’s mission.”
A spokeswoman for the college declined to provide more details about which parts of Dartmouth’s portfolio — a 60/40 split of equity and bonds — had performed the best, or about how its mix had changed from the previous year.
More information is coming in an annual endowment report that the school releases each spring, the spokeswoman said.
This week’s news release also notes that investment returns were “enhanced by strong performance relative to benchmark indices across the portfolio.”
The endowment stood at $4.5 billion in June 2016, which at the time represented a 4 percent drop from the previous high of $4.66 billion, in fiscal year 2015.
This year’s gain came despite an increase in distributions to support operational expenses, which grew to $225 million from $209 million the year before.
Gifts, which totaled about $77 million during fiscal 2017, also were down from the $119 million reported in fiscal year 2016.
Phil Hanlon, the school’s president, noted in the release that the endowment would help administrators in several ongoing efforts to keep the college competitive.
“Dartmouth’s endowment plays a critical role in supporting the operations across the institution, including faculty compensation, funding our commitment to a needs-blind undergraduate admissions policy, and support for the professional schools,” said Hanlon, a 1977 alumnus.
At the same time, an initiative to shift about $17 million from administrative costs to academics also is underway.
College administrators have been looking at all aspects of Dartmouth’s operations for potential cost-saving measures — whether those be personnel costs, stocking of janitorial supplies, or the Hanover Country Club, the closing of which officials last month acknowledged was being considered.
Officials announced the four-year drive in 2016.
Executive Vice President Rick Mills predicted that the coming budget cycle, the second year of the drive, will be the most challenging.
“It’s hard work,” Mills said in an interview. “It’s causing all of us on the administrative side of the house to re-examine our priorities to see what we’re working on, how we’re using our resources.”
Dartmouth is the first Ivy League school to report its endowment returns for this most recent fiscal year. This year’s gain rounds out an overall growth of 6.4 percent over the past decade.