Private, Community Foundations Continued Progress Development
(Photo By Jonathan Borba by way of Pexels)
Foundation endowments continued a three-year development spurt, with 171 non-public foundations boosting holdings by 14.1% throughout calendar 2025, up from 10.3% for 2024. Similarly, endowments at 114 neighborhood foundations surveyed grew 14.7%, up from 11% throughout 2024.
The three-year development streak marks the longest stretch that personal and neighborhood foundations skilled double-digit share development, based on information within the annual Council on Foundations–Commonfund Study of Investment of Endowments for Private and Community Foundations. The development marks regular enchancment from 2022, when the information confirmed the bottom common returns on file. As the report authors famous, “[t]railing three- and five-year annualized returns rebounded sharply in 2025, largely as a result of the poor efficiency of 2022 rolled off the calculation window.” Percentage return information is reported web of charges.
“Foundations are in a robust place to climate no matter volatility comes subsequent, however the long-term image stands out most,” mentioned Kathleen Enright, president and CEO of the Council on Foundations and George Suttles, government director of Commonfund Institute by way of a joint assertion. “With two years of 15- and 20-year information now in hand, we’re seeing proof that foundations are in a position to maintain their endowments over time which permits them to fund in ways in which serve communities now and for many years to come back.”
There are some variations in how non-public and neighborhood foundations allocate their belongings. Private foundations held round 25% of their belongings in U.S. equities throughout 2025, on par with 2024’s allocation. They pulled again barely from mounted earnings belongings, which final 12 months made up 10.3% of belongings, in contrast with 13% a 12 months earlier.
Private foundations upped their place in non-U.S. equities from 14% throughout 2024 to 16.3% final 12 months, whereas additionally placing just a little bit extra towards various methods equivalent to enterprise capital, vitality and pure assets, distressed debt and personal actual property (45% throughout 2024, 45.8% in 2025). They boosted short-term securities and money holdings from 2% throughout 2024 to 2.7% throughout 2025.
Community foundations, roughly, held their allocations regular, with one notable exception. Community foundations had 38% of belongings in U.S. equities throughout 2024. This ticked as much as 38.9% final 12 months. Fixed-income belongings inched up from 16% throughout 2024 to 17.4% Non-U.S. equities holdings made up 20% of asset allocations throughout 2025, just a little bit greater than the 18% this class represented for 2024. Short-term securities and money holdings, which had been at 3% throughout 2024, rose to three.2% throughout 2025.
These will increase got here largely as neighborhood foundations in the reduction of their holdings within the various methods class, which dropped from 25% in 2024 to twenty.5% final 12 months.
Investment properties that scored excessive on environmental, social and governance (ESG) standards continued to make positive factors as essential concerns when allocating funds. The share of personal foundations looking for to put money into alternatives that ranked ESG concerns extremely was 28% final 12 months, in contrast with 26% throughout 2024 and 20% in 2018. Among neighborhood foundations, high-ESG alternatives have been prioritized by 26%, up from 25% in 2024 and 20% in 2018.
Conversely, 25% of personal foundations and 10% of neighborhood foundations sought to display screen out investments inconsistent with their missions, in contrast with 23% and 12% respectively in 2024 and 12% and 13%, respectively, throughout 2018.
Community foundations are public charities, and as such they settle for presents and donations and conduct fundraising. Last 12 months (2025) marked the second consecutive 12 months that extra neighborhood foundations reported a rise in presents (51%) than a lower (34%). Among these reporting will increase, median share development in presents was 79% over 2024, in contrast with a 34% drop amongst these reporting decreases.
A full copy of the report is out there right here: https://bit.ly/4c409gJ
