2024 Private Investment Operational DDQ Analysis
This report presents an analysis of manager responses submitted via Cambridge Associates’ operational due diligence questionnaire.
Governance and Management
Endowment Radar Study 2024: Why Colleges and Universities Have Endowments
Endowment spending is a dependable source of revenue that pays for teaching and research and reduces reliance on student fees and annual fundraising appeals. In 2025, this sustainable business model faces intense headwinds that threaten to destabilize the financial equation.
Sustainable and Impact Investing 2024: Insights and Perspectives
In our 2024 Sustainable and Impact Investing Survey, we reached out to Cambridge Associates clients for insights into how investors are thinking about sustainable and impact investing, as well as to identify changes in the field over the past two years and to understand possible future trends. Of the 255 clients who responded, 157 reported engaging in sustainable and impact investing, and this chart book explores trends in the investment structure, implementation strategies, and governance and measurement of sustainable and impact investing.
Optimizing Wealth Infrastructure for Families
For many families, navigating the complexities of outsourcing investment functions can be challenging. This paper helps families understand the different structural components to consider as they seek to create an institutional-caliber portfolio.
The Divestment Question: Focus on Governance
This paper offers considerations for how to manage calls for divestment and raises questions that need to be answered to respond clearly and effectively to divestment requests. To navigate tumultuous times and passionate entreaties, we believe institutions need to lean into good governance.
Endowment Radar Study 2023: Endowment Dependence Grows with Higher Costs
Higher costs and higher rates of endowment spending are the major story lines of the 2023 Endowment Radar Study. Over the past year, the endowment provided a stable source of funding to for the growing costs of private college and university business model.
The Transformative Public University Endowment
In today’s dynamic funding and operating environment, a lot is at stake for public colleges and universities and their endowments. The endowment is more than a static funding source; it plays a strategic and expanding role in the public university business model, and with strong stewardship, a growing endowment can transform a university’s financial equation.
Pool Hopping: ERISA-Regulated Defined Benefit Plans May Have More Private Investing Flexibility Than They Realize
Many defined benefit (DB) plan sponsors have concerns that the longer-term lockups required for private investments (PI) preclude them from taking advantage of this asset class. However, an exemption exists that allows ERISA-governed DB plans to transfer their PI programs to a separate investment pool if they need to—without liquidating them or sacrificing returns.
Shelter from the Storms: Diversification and Opportunity for Pensions in Insurance-Linked Securities
We believe insurance-linked securities can be a good fit for many pension funds looking to diversify their portfolios. This paper shares insights on how pensions can confidently underwrite and implement this asset class.
No Surprises: Managing Risk in Family Portfolios
Creating portfolios customized to a family’s unique investment goals and risk tolerance requires ingenuity and flexible thinking. However, the execution of risk management should be more systematic, and families and their advisors should consider four components: strategic risk, implementation risk, portfolio monitoring, and communication.