NBOA members and webinar attendees can view the full presentation, slides and transcript at NBOA.org.
Regarding stock market gyrations following the November election, William Jarvis, executive director at Commonfund Institute, cautioned business officers not to read too much into the volatility. “We call these the ‘Trump on, Trump off’ charts,” he said. “It was not that the markets were euphoric about Donald Trump becoming president; it was that the markets were sensing a potential change in fiscal policy … and maybe overreacting a bit ahead of that change.” Noting that the rally has slowed since those first months, he cited the difficulty of enacting actual policy changes in Washington. “It typically takes longer than people anticipate.”
Gauging the investment mood among attendees, the two conducted several live polls during the webinar. Among the results:
- Only 1 percent of webinar attendees said they expected to substantially change their asset allocations in the coming fiscal year. Thirty percent expected some change; 69 percent forecast very little change.
- Schools anticipate little to no change for their investment spending policies. Twelve percent said spending would increase, 8 percent said it would decrease and 80 percent said it would remain the same.
- Regarding changes to endowment gifts in the coming year, 27 percent of attendees expected an increase, 7 percent forecast a decrease and 66 percent expected no change.
Gifts to independent school endowments in the fiscal year ending June 30 averaged $1.6 million, Strauss and Jarvis said. But they noted that some large gifts pull the average much higher than the median. They added that higher-ed endowment gifts averaged $12.9 million but had a median of just $2.8 million.
NBOA members and webinar attendees: View the full presentation and transcript at NBOA.org.
