Naming rights
Harvard’s renaming its Graduate School of Arts and Sciences after Citadel's CEO, Ken Griffin, following his recent $300 million donation. Griffin’s been spreading his wealth through the hallowed halls for years now, with his donations now totaling over half a billion, including a $150 million payment back in 2014.
Huge gifts like Griffin’s are just one of the ways Harvard makes its money. Indeed, its gargantuan endowment fund is almost as storied as its academic credentials at this point, weighing in at a whopping $51 billion as of June 2022.
The crimson economy
Harvard’s mega-money pot is overseen by its own investment company, the Harvard Management Company, which takes care of the ~14,000 funds that make up the endowment, seeking to generate returns well in excess of its annual contributions to the school’s operating expenses.
Indeed, in 2021 the endowment managers returned 34% on their investments and helped add over $11bn to the fund. 2022 wasn’t as strong and, like many other investment portfolios, the Harvard fund ended the year down, with around ~$2bn wiped from the total.
It’s important to remember that at least some of that loss will have gone towards the soft 5% target that the college aims to draw from the fund each year to cover collegiate operating costs. That’s a major revenue stream for Harvard — in 2022 the endowment's drawdown was roughly double what the college generated from current students.
