MIT’s assets drop 5.3%, largest decrease in seven years
Endowment plunges 10.2%, offset by philanthropic gains
MIT reported a loss in net assets for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2022. According to the Report of the Treasurer, the Institute’s return on pooled investments saw a 5.3% loss in the fiscal year.
MIT’s endowment fell by 10.2% or about $2.8 billion, from $27.394 billion in 2021 to $24.6 billion in 2022. The endowment is the largest component in MIT’s overall investments.
Executive Vice President and Treasurer Glen Shor wrote in the report that MIT concluded the year with a net result of $271.8 million.
MIT’s endowment is composed of assets that either have donor restrictions or do not. According to the Report of the Treasurer, assets with donor restrictions typically include purpose restrictions for how the assets are to be spent or time restrictions. For fiscal year 2022, Shor wrote that “net assets without donor restrictions decreased $1,430.1 million, or 9.1%, to $14,295.6 million.”
Despite these losses, Shor wrote that MIT has been able to progress with “initiatives prudently with an eye toward maintaining fiscal resilience.” Shor stated that the “efforts to achieve impact have also been buoyed by continued strong support,” citing the Campaign for a Better World, which raised $6.2 billion.
In the report, Shor wrote about the continued “focus on the needs of students.” He added that undergraduate financial aid was expanded to “enable students with family incomes less than $140,000 per year (and with typical assets) to attend MIT tuition-free for the 2022–2023 academic year.”
In addition, Shor highlighted the MIT’s Climate Grand Challenges initiative which supports “flagship research projects” as well as “solutions to climate change.” He wrote that campus net emissions have been cut “by more than 20 percent from a 2014 baseline through investments in campus utility and other infrastructure to markedly improve energy efficiency.”
In the report, Shor wrote that “challenging economic conditions affected the performance of our pooled investments.” However, he added that the net result was a sign of revenues and expenses “rebounding from the pandemic” and “generosity of alumni and friends.”
MIT reported the largest loss in returns at 5.3% compared to similar institutions, including Harvard University whose returns fell 1.8% and Yale University at 0.8%.
According to MIT News, MIT’s endowment is meant to “support current and future generations of MIT scholars.” The funds are appropriated for purposes such as “education, research, campus renewal, faculty work, and student financial aid.”
In a letter sent to the MIT community in the fall of 2021, outgoing President L. Rafael Reif wrote that the endowment is “made up of thousands of individual funds” which are primarily “gifts from our alumni and friends.” The endowment, as well as other assets, are managed by the MIT Investment Management Company.