Imperative XII
Achieve a $2 billion endowment
To sustain a strong student scholarship program, to create excellence in academic and student life programming, to provide support for key academic chairs and professorships and to enable the other imperatives of this 10-year vision, Baylor will build an endowment with a corpus of $2 billion by 2012. Through successful fund-raising, shrewd asset management and responsible stewardship, Baylor will develop endowed resources on par with some of the nation's top-tier universities.
Progress Summary
We are making progress, although the effects of a sluggish economy continued to impact the University's efforts.
In September 2010, President Ken Starr announced the first fundraising priority of his Baylor presidency — the $100 million How Extraordinary the Stories: The President's Scholarship Initiative. The focus is on building a robust scholarship program that will help recruit to Baylor some of the best and brightest young minds, provide access to those with need, attract the most talented student-athletes and extend opportunities for students who can benefit from academic enrichment opportunities beyond the borders of Baylor's Campus in Waco.
The market value of the University's endowment was $1 billion as of May 31, 2011, indicating the beginnings of a rebound. The effects of the economy can be seen in the fiscal year 2009 and 2010 ending market values. Endowments across the country continue to contend with challenging economic conditions. The 2011 National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO)-Commonfund Study of Endowments® (NCSE) indicates endowments are beginning to slowly rebound from the negative effects of the national financial crisis.
Since 2003, Baylor had made steady strides in the NACUBO rank of total endowment and ended fiscal year 2011 at 75th in the rankings. The endowment per student full-time equivalent (FTE) remains ahead of the 2002 level. FTE was $66,266 in 2011, up from $59,516 in 2010. The NACUBO ranking of endowment per FTE among private universities moved to 172 in fiscal year 2011 — the third best rank that Baylor has achieved.