FAQ: Your Questions Answered

The aim of the endowment is to provide strong resources to sustain Pomona’s enduring commitments both to current students and future generations of students and scholars. The endowment, carefully stewarded over decades, allows the College to provide a world-class liberal arts education, recruit students from all backgrounds and offer excellent financial aid.

Pomona relies on the endowment year after year to support our academic excellence and extensive financial aid. To make sure we can continue to meet these commitments to students over the decades to come, we have limits on how much we can take from the endowment each year.

Spending from the endowment is governed by the College’s spending rule. Ratified by the Board of Trustees, the rule limits the payout between 4.5% and 5.5% of the average endowment unit market value during the previous 20 quarters.

The precise amount is determined by applying a 2% growth rate to the previous year’s spending per unit, subject to the 4.5%-5.5% lower and upper limits.

The Investments Committee of the Board of Trustees sets the endowment’s investment policy and approves the hiring and firing of investment managers. The day-to-day management of the College’s investments is conducted by Pomona’s Investments Office.

Currently, the College is fully utilizing its endowment. Pomona depends on the endowment to support the operations of the College not only today, but for the future; Every $10 million in endowment provides approximately $500,000 in operating budget support. So, if the College were to take $20 million out to reduce tuition or fund an urgent need now, we would have to find an immediate replacement for $1 million of operating revenues now and every year moving forward.

Funds collected from students, such as tuition and fees, are separate from the endowment and are used solely to support College operations.

On an annual basis, Pomona typically discloses information about its investment holdings in two documents. The first is in the footnotes to our annual financial statements. The footnotes contain information on the amount of undrawn capital commitments to private funds, liquidity provisions of marketable assets, annual performance, and high-level asset allocation.

The College also provides an annual factsheet to existing and potential purchasers of charitable gift annuities. This factsheet also shows the College’s asset allocation, along with investment returns against various benchmarks.

Learn more from our financial information and disclosures page.

Beyond the requirements of U.S. law, Pomona’s investment policies do not single out any industry, nation, nationality or region of the world for investment exclusion. There are no plans to alter this approach to single out any individual industry, nation, nationality or region for exclusion.

Senior staff from the Treasurer’s division often speak with stakeholder groups including donors, faculty, staff, and ASPC regarding the budget and management of the College’s endowment. If you are interested in arranging for one of these meetings, please send a request to treasurer@pomona.edu.

Pomona's annual financial statements covering more than a decade are available on the financial statements page.

Budget Questions: If you have questions about Pomona College's budget, please email treasurer@pomona.edu.

Donor Questions: For questions about donations, please email supportsagehens@pomona.edu.

Prospective Investment Partners: If you are an external investment manager or third-party marketer, please email prospectiveinvestments@pomona.edu.