Our endowment woes. Failing to grow much?

7,684 Views | 59 Replies | Last: 4 yr ago by william
atomicblast
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What is up with our endowment? We crossed the $1 billion mark in 2007 and 13 years later we are barely hitting 1.2? That's a terrible growth! How much longer before we hit $2 billion, TCU is nearly there already.
Redbrickbear
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atomicblast said:

What is up with our endowment? We crossed the $1 billion mark in 2007 and 13 years later we are barely hitting 1.2? That's a terrible growth! How much longer before we hit $2 billion, TCU is nearly there already.
Yea I often wonder about our long term investment strategy.

In a booming economy you would think we would be seeing more growth.
Stranger
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Redbrickbear said:

atomicblast said:

What is up with our endowment? We crossed the $1 billion mark in 2007 and 13 years later we are barely hitting 1.2? That's a terrible growth! How much longer before we hit $2 billion, TCU is nearly there already.
Yea I often wonder about our long term investment strategy.

In a booming economy you would think we would be seeing more growth.

What you half to dig to find is how much of our endowment is actually cash.

A large part of our number is real estate, including the stadium and the ground it sits on and the surrounding property. All of that was originally set aside as property the Bush Library would sit on. It was all purchased for the Librsry. Of course only Sloan and Tommye Lou ever thought that would happen. Laura Bush always knew it would be at Southern Methodist.

To further complicate that asset was that Kenny Starr, et al had Bayor borrowed against the whole campus in the form of bonded indebtedness for the stadium, business school and various projects.

Also there is real estate near and across from LaSalle.

Among his many faults that contributed to Starr being one of the worst presidents ever, was that he had Development jicky the numbers around to make our value appear more than it was. He was never able to raise money so he often counted the same money more than once to create the image that he was raising money.

Bottom line is you couldn't redeem the endowment for cash if you tried.
atomicblast
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Stranger said:

Redbrickbear said:

atomicblast said:

What is up with our endowment? We crossed the $1 billion mark in 2007 and 13 years later we are barely hitting 1.2? That's a terrible growth! How much longer before we hit $2 billion, TCU is nearly there already.
Yea I often wonder about our long term investment strategy.

In a booming economy you would think we would be seeing more growth.

What you half to dig to find is how much of our endowment is actually cash.

A large part of our number is real estate, including the stadium and the ground it sits on and the surrounding property. All of that was originally set aside as property the Bush Library would sit on. It was all purchased for the Librsry. Of course only Sloan and Tommye Lou ever thought that would happen. Laura Bush always knew it would be at Southern Methodist.

To further complicate that asset was that Kenny Starr, et al had Bayor borrowed against the whole campus in the form of bonded indebtedness for the stadium, business school and various projects.

Also there is real estate near and across from LaSalle.

Among his many faults that contributed to Starr being one of the worst presidents ever, was that he had Development jicky the numbers around to make our value appear more than it was. He was never able to raise money so he often counted the same money more than once to create the image that he was raising money.

Bottom line is you couldn't redeem the endowment for cash if you tried.

So how much are we in debt? SMU went through a restructuring of their finances about 3 years ago, I am surprised Baylor has.made moves to ensure we dont go belly up.
Stranger
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atomicblast said:

Stranger said:

Redbrickbear said:

atomicblast said:

What is up with our endowment? We crossed the $1 billion mark in 2007 and 13 years later we are barely hitting 1.2? That's a terrible growth! How much longer before we hit $2 billion, TCU is nearly there already.
Yea I often wonder about our long term investment strategy.

In a booming economy you would think we would be seeing more growth.

What you half to dig to find is how much of our endowment is actually cash.

A large part of our number is real estate, including the stadium and the ground it sits on and the surrounding property. All of that was originally set aside as property the Bush Library would sit on. It was all purchased for the Librsry. Of course only Sloan and Tommye Lou ever thought that would happen. Laura Bush always knew it would be at Southern Methodist.

To further complicate that asset was that Kenny Starr, et al had Bayor borrowed against the whole campus in the form of bonded indebtedness for the stadium, business school and various projects.

Also there is real estate near and across from LaSalle.

Among his many faults that contributed to Starr being one of the worst presidents ever, was that he had Development jicky the numbers around to make our value appear more than it was. He was never able to raise money so he often counted the same money more than once to create the image that he was raising money.

Bottom line is you couldn't redeem the endowment for cash if you tried.

So how much are we in debt? SMU went through a restructuring of their finances about 3 years ago, I am surprised Baylor has.made moves to ensure we dont go belly up.


The debt is considerable. I haven't seen the latest figures, but at one time it was over $500 million.
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BaylorGuy314
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Baylor's audit indicated $588MM of notes/bonds payable as of 5/31/19 (our fiscal year end).

https://www.baylor.edu/financial_services/doc.php/343625.pdf
RegentCoverup
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atomicblast said:

What is up with our endowment? We crossed the $1 billion mark in 2007 and 13 years later we are barely hitting 1.2? That's a terrible growth! How much longer before we hit $2 billion, TCU is nearly there already.
Couple of points.

1. Agree with Stranger's points.
2. Starr also burned off a few people in the Development office that were productive. Long term employees, good relationships, decade of experience. They get a call out of the blue and they are told to hand in their badge laptop, etc. that's it. Which is fine if these employees need to be fired, but in the development business they take the relationships with them and it also signals to people a lack of confidence when you don't manage those relationships. So it makes people skeptical.

3. I'll state this part as a fact, we have 39 board members. A few have given money to Baylor, a few very significant money to Baylor. But many have given very little and simply rotate on/off the board.

I can't figure out the motivation for collecting dust, but all I can think at this point is that the view the board as some kind of political birthright. But we should be hanging board members upside down and telling them either to donate or to raise some cash.

When you combine the ineptitude of some of the board members and a Briles fiasco, with their inability to raise money, you could make the case that some of the board members have actually cost Baylor money.

Long and short, we aren't raising money at the clip we need to get to $2 bil. I do believe that Prez LL sees this as important, but this is absolutely not something that happens by virtue of one person. There will probably need to be structural issues that are changed before we see an uptick


Bearitto
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So you are saying you aren't well endowed and what you are endowed with doesn't grow much? That sounds just terrible.

(Sorry. The word play was just too obvious. My apologies in advance)
amanda
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A large part of our number is real estate, including the stadium and the ground it sits on and the surrounding property. All of that was originally >auto clicker word unscrambler jumble solver set aside as property the Bush Library would sit on. It was all purchased for the Librsry. Of course only Sloan and Tommye Lou ever thought that would happen. Laura Bush always knew it would be at Southern Methodist.
Robert Wilson
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atomicblast said:

What is up with our endowment? We crossed the $1 billion mark in 2007 and 13 years later we are barely hitting 1.2? That's a terrible growth! How much longer before we hit $2 billion, TCU is nearly there already.
Brutal. Look at what the stock market has done over that period of time.
4th and Inches
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Robert Wilson said:

atomicblast said:

What is up with our endowment? We crossed the $1 billion mark in 2007 and 13 years later we are barely hitting 1.2? That's a terrible growth! How much longer before we hit $2 billion, TCU is nearly there already.
Brutal. Look at what the stock market has done over that period of time.
basically ran with base cost adjustment growth... very poor return
“Mix a little foolishness with your serious plans. It is lovely to be silly at the right moment.”

–Horace


“Insomnia sharpens your math skills because you spend all night calculating how much sleep you’ll get if you’re able to ‘fall asleep right now.’ “
PartyBear
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Why did Starr fire people in the Development office?
RegentCoverup
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PartyBear said:

Why did Starr fire people in the Development office?
I wish I knew.

Pecos 45
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PartyBear said:

Why did Starr fire people in the Development office?
I may be going out on a limb here, but it might be that they were not "true believers."
(i.e. they supported the Baylor Alumni Association over Buddy Jones and his tribe.)

The damage from that entire butt-hurt fiasco is still being felt. (No pun intended.)
“If you have a job without aggravations, you don’t have a job.”
Malcolm Forbes
RegentCoverup
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Other schools investments continue to grow at a rate faster than Baylor's,

That's more by reason of donation and fund raising then investment performance. In the short run, it doesn't mean much, but if the pace continues, then we have a problem.

UT-Dallas had approx $250 million in 2011, today, they are at $550 million. That's $250 million over 8 years, meaning in another 20, they should pass Baylor if we continue to stand still.

Baylor has 150+ years of history, the endowment should reflect that.

Redbrickbear
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TellMeYouLoveMe said:

Other schools investments continue to grow at a rate faster than Baylor's,

That's more by reason of donation and fund raising then investment performance. In the short run, it doesn't mean much, but if the pace continues, then we have a problem.

UT-Dallas had approx $250 million in 2011, today, they are at $550 million. That's $250 million over 8 years, meaning in another 20, they should pass Baylor if we continue to stand still.

Baylor has 150+ years of history, the endowment should reflect that.


Rice U: $6.48 billion
SMU: $2 billion
TCU: $1.7 billion
Baylor: $1.2 billion
Trinity U: $1.2 billion


Not good. We are the largest private school in the state but have an endowment no bigger than tiny trinity.

The best US universities are all above $2 billion....and the very best above $5 billion.
RegentCoverup
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Nope.

And the trend line appears to be flat. If others continue to grow at their current pace and Baylor stays flat, they will fall further down the list.

39 board members. Maybe it's time to start listing names and find out who has given, who has not.
WILLIS
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Where do y'all keep getting this $1.2 number... End of 2018, it was 1.31... Probably close to $1.5 if it kept pace with the market.. There is so much bad information on this thread.

https://www.baylor.edu/investments/index.php?id=928665#endowment_size




Stranger
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WILLIS said:

Where do y'all keep getting this $1.2 number... End of 2018, it was 1.31... Probably close to $1.5 if it kept pace with the market.. There is so much bad information on this thread.

https://www.baylor.edu/investments/index.php?id=928665#endowment_size






It's a well known fact that Baylor always lies about money. They don't want to tell you that. a big chunk of that money is real estate sitting under and around the football field. Also, the net value is reduced with over $700 million in debt.

Perhaps Baylor should invite Mini Mike Bloomberg to sit on the BOR.
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WILLIS
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Lets see some citations and sources on your estimates of endowment numbers and that Baylor is lying about theirs.
Stranger
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WILLIS said:

Lets see some citations and sources on your estimates of endowment numbers and that Baylor is lying about theirs.

Are you a member/past member of the BOR?
I'm a Bearbacker
WILLIS
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Not sure if serious... No I am not, nor am I related to any Willis regents you might be thinking of.
RegentCoverup
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WILLIS said:

Where do y'all keep getting this $1.2 number... End of 2018, it was 1.31... Probably close to $1.5 if it kept pace with the market.. There is so much bad information on this thread.

https://www.baylor.edu/investments/index.php?id=928665#endowment_size





Please, feel free to correct my numbers. https://www.utdallas.edu/development/endowments/endowment-update-fiscal-2018/

The UT Dallas endowment is $558 million. It was previously $250 million in 2012. At that rate of growth, they will catch Baylor in approximately 21 years. Baylor is 175 years old, UT-Dallas is ....50 years old.
Bottom line, they have a tremendous growth rate, largely due to successful inflows of capital.

Of course, they aren't saddled with 39 Regents that give nothing to their endowment, so I guess you could say they have an advantage.
57Bear
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Stranger said:


Perhaps Baylor should invite Mini Mike Bloomberg to sit on the BOR.
Perhaps Baylor management should quit offending donors.
Pecos 45
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57Bear said:

Stranger said:


Perhaps Baylor should invite Mini Mike Bloomberg to sit on the BOR.
Perhaps Baylor management should quit offending donors.
Such as p*ssing off all of the members of the Baylor Alumni Association.
(Thank you, Buddy Jones.)
“If you have a job without aggravations, you don’t have a job.”
Malcolm Forbes
Redbrickbear
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Stranger said:

WILLIS said:

Where do y'all keep getting this $1.2 number... End of 2018, it was 1.31... Probably close to $1.5 if it kept pace with the market.. There is so much bad information on this thread.

https://www.baylor.edu/investments/index.php?id=928665#endowment_size






It's a well known fact that Baylor always lies about money. They don't want to tell you that. a big chunk of that money is real estate sitting under and around the football field. Also, the net value is reduced with over $700 million in debt.

Perhaps Baylor should invite Mini Mike Bloomberg to sit on the BOR.
Shoot mini mike has $60 billion.....I would make him Regent king for life if we would give us some of that dough. lol
Redbrickbear
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TellMeYouLoveMe said:

WILLIS said:

Where do y'all keep getting this $1.2 number... End of 2018, it was 1.31... Probably close to $1.5 if it kept pace with the market.. There is so much bad information on this thread.

https://www.baylor.edu/investments/index.php?id=928665#endowment_size





Please, feel free to correct my numbers. https://www.utdallas.edu/development/endowments/endowment-update-fiscal-2018/

The UT Dallas endowment is $558 million. It was previously $250 million in 2012. At that rate of growth, they will catch Baylor in approximately 21 years. Baylor is 175 years old, UT-Dallas is ....50 years old.
Bottom line, they have a tremendous growth rate, largely due to successful inflows of capital.

Of course, they aren't saddled with 39 Regents that give nothing to their endowment, so I guess you could say they have an advantage.
This is a big issue.

If you are gonna sit on the board of Regents and cost Baylor money every time you horribly mismanage a scandal....you should at least be forking over big bucks for our endowment.
RegentCoverup
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Redbrickbear said:

TellMeYouLoveMe said:

WILLIS said:

Where do y'all keep getting this $1.2 number... End of 2018, it was 1.31... Probably close to $1.5 if it kept pace with the market.. There is so much bad information on this thread.

https://www.baylor.edu/investments/index.php?id=928665#endowment_size





Please, feel free to correct my numbers. https://www.utdallas.edu/development/endowments/endowment-update-fiscal-2018/

The UT Dallas endowment is $558 million. It was previously $250 million in 2012. At that rate of growth, they will catch Baylor in approximately 21 years. Baylor is 175 years old, UT-Dallas is ....50 years old.
Bottom line, they have a tremendous growth rate, largely due to successful inflows of capital.

Of course, they aren't saddled with 39 Regents that give nothing to their endowment, so I guess you could say they have an advantage.
This is a big issue.

If you are gonna sit on the board of Regents and cost Baylor money every time you horribly mismanage a scandal....you should at least be forking over big bucks for our endowment.
Yep, some of those Regents, by virtue of ignorance and lack of vision, actually subtract value from Baylor. We just took the hit on a liability that was completely preventable, and now they've gone back to their bunker mentality. What's the point?

Whether we have 12 regents, 39 regents, 120 regents, I don't care, but at the very LEAST, require the regents to give money to Baylor.

Keyser Soze
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How much has Baylor spent on new buildings.

B School
Law School
McClane Stadium
Nutrition Center
Dorms

1 Billion ?

Don't know all the details but bet few have huge campus expansion and huge endowment increase at the same time.

Keyser Soze
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TellMeYouLoveMe said:

Redbrickbear said:

TellMeYouLoveMe said:

WILLIS said:

Where do y'all keep getting this $1.2 number... End of 2018, it was 1.31... Probably close to $1.5 if it kept pace with the market.. There is so much bad information on this thread.

https://www.baylor.edu/investments/index.php?id=928665#endowment_size





Please, feel free to correct my numbers. https://www.utdallas.edu/development/endowments/endowment-update-fiscal-2018/

The UT Dallas endowment is $558 million. It was previously $250 million in 2012. At that rate of growth, they will catch Baylor in approximately 21 years. Baylor is 175 years old, UT-Dallas is ....50 years old.
Bottom line, they have a tremendous growth rate, largely due to successful inflows of capital.

Of course, they aren't saddled with 39 Regents that give nothing to their endowment, so I guess you could say they have an advantage.
This is a big issue.

If you are gonna sit on the board of Regents and cost Baylor money every time you horribly mismanage a scandal....you should at least be forking over big bucks for our endowment.
Yep, some of those Regents, by virtue of ignorance and lack of vision, actually subtract value from Baylor. We just took the hit on a liability that was completely preventable, and now they've gone back to their bunker mentality. What's the point?

Whether we have 12 regents, 39 regents, 120 regents, I don't care, but at the very LEAST, require the regents to give money to Baylor.



I thought many of past problems were that many regents were picked based on giving.

RegentCoverup
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Keyser Soze said:

TellMeYouLoveMe said:

Redbrickbear said:

TellMeYouLoveMe said:

WILLIS said:

Where do y'all keep getting this $1.2 number... End of 2018, it was 1.31... Probably close to $1.5 if it kept pace with the market.. There is so much bad information on this thread.

https://www.baylor.edu/investments/index.php?id=928665#endowment_size





Please, feel free to correct my numbers. https://www.utdallas.edu/development/endowments/endowment-update-fiscal-2018/

The UT Dallas endowment is $558 million. It was previously $250 million in 2012. At that rate of growth, they will catch Baylor in approximately 21 years. Baylor is 175 years old, UT-Dallas is ....50 years old.
Bottom line, they have a tremendous growth rate, largely due to successful inflows of capital.

Of course, they aren't saddled with 39 Regents that give nothing to their endowment, so I guess you could say they have an advantage.
This is a big issue.

If you are gonna sit on the board of Regents and cost Baylor money every time you horribly mismanage a scandal....you should at least be forking over big bucks for our endowment.
Yep, some of those Regents, by virtue of ignorance and lack of vision, actually subtract value from Baylor. We just took the hit on a liability that was completely preventable, and now they've gone back to their bunker mentality. What's the point?

Whether we have 12 regents, 39 regents, 120 regents, I don't care, but at the very LEAST, require the regents to give money to Baylor.



I thought many of past problems were that many regents were picked based on giving.



Baylor's big money donors, have for the most part been excellent. Few are better than:

  • Paul Foster
  • Mark Hurd
  • Drayton
  • Jim Turner.

Now, part of my reasoning is that some of these fine donors, bring 'other' board experience. So we aren't just getting sources of funds, but people with signifcant board leadership experience.
if we got someone with a net worth north of $500 mil, they could very well be a problem, but that's never happened. We're getting the opposite, we're getting people that haven't donated, but demand control with no accountability. Remember, we have yet to see any regents that were sanctioned as a result of the football scandal. It's like a cocktail party with drunk people holding shotguns.

It's possible, because of privacy, that there are some that have given but we simply don't know.
How long was Dary Stone a regent? what were the donation track records of:
-Dary Stone
-Richard Willis
-Neal T.(Buddy) Jones.

I can find no record of a significant donation...
RegentCoverup
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Keyser Soze said:

How much has Baylor spent on new buildings.

B School
Law School
McClane Stadium
Nutrition Center
Dorms

1 Billion ?

Don't know all the details but bet few have huge campus expansion and huge endowment increase at the same time.


Incorrect, in some cases, these universities have spent MORE than Baylor. TCU has funded both a basketball arena and football stadium in more or less the same time.

Also, much of the spend in Baylor's case(the stadium and science bldg) was funded by debt increases. Meaning the balance sheet position was offset by increases in liability. So the net balance sheet position improved only marginally. The assets increased, but so did the debt.

Everyone wants their name on a building, the tough part is paying for the unspectacular costs, like maintenance, repairs, renovations, furniture, infrastructure.

Endowment numbers are skewed a bit too, we'd love to adjust that to a per-student basis, but with 16k students, that's another reason the endowment needs to increase.

drahthaar
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What would be interesting to see would be a breakdown of the endowment investments: real estate, cash investments/equities, and estate bequests pledged vs. received, and how these are documented and reported to the public.
RegentCoverup
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Bottom line, we won't be mentioned in the same sphere of influence as schools that have much larger endowment funds. Notre Dame and USC are in the $5 bil range, just to give some comparison.

We can go back and forth on whether Regents should donate, but right now, we have a board that bears responsibility for the cost incurred of the scandal. If they can't pick up the tab, I think we're better off cutting some loose, at a minimum don't let them make decisions haha.

And if it's not about money, at least get people with experience in higher education.
57Bear
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Willis made the lead gift for the Willis Equestrian Center - announced by BU in 2006:
https://www.baylor.edu/mediacommunications/news.php?action=story&story=38544

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