Investing in a Partnership

Duke supporters who are leaders in the financial services industry have come together under the Duke University Financial Partners.  This group of alumni, parents, and friends understands the financial complexities of a university and is uniquely positioned to invest in Duke’s financial success.

Each year, the Financial Partners meet for professionally relevant programs and opportunities to network with Duke-affiliated colleagues.  Since the inaugural event featuring Mike Krzyzewski, speakers have included a mix of industry and university leaders from John Mack T’68 to Richard Brodhead.

Financial Partners are affiliated with every school, and their investments—as leadership donors and as active volunteers—influence every corner of the campus.

To learn more about Duke’s financial priorities, visit: http://giving.duke.edu/annualreport.

Investing in Duke's Future

During the 1996-2003 Campaign for Duke, the Financial Partners contributed over $85 million to help transform the university with new scholarships, professorships, facilities, and programs. 

Many Financial Partners provide the university with both current funds and permanent support. Gifts to the Duke Annual Fund provide expendable resources to cover immediate needs.  Endowment gifts are invested to provide Duke with a permanent source of funding.  Each year, a portion of an endowment fund’s earnings is spent.  The rest remains invested to ensure that the fund will continue to grow and to weather changes in the market.

And Duke manages these investments well.  For the ten-year period ending June 30, 2007, the university saw a 17.1 percent average annual compound rate of return on its endowment assets. 

To learn more about Duke’s endowment investment performance, visit: the DUMAC web site.

Investing in Students

Duke is committed to educating many of the world’s best students, regardless of whether their families can cover the full cost of a Duke education.  But for every dollar the university spends on need-based undergraduate aid, less than 20 cents comes from financial aid endowment.  The balance comes from operating resources which could otherwise support academic programs.  By contrast, some of Duke’s peers in higher education support as much as 80-90 percent of their need-based undergraduate aid programs with endowment dedicated to this purpose.

The Financial Partners understand that this practice of financing so much of an increasingly costly aid program with operating revenue may not be sustainable in all foreseeable futures.  That’s why they have supported financial aid endowment in the past, and that’s why they are playing a leading role in Duke’s $300 million Financial Aid Initiative.  Through this effort, the Financial Partners and others can take advantage of a fund-raising challenge which will match many new gifts to financial aid endowment dollar for dollar.

To learn more about Duke’s Financial Aid Initiative, visit: http://giving.duke.edu/fai.

Join the Duke University Financial Partners, and enjoy the returns on your investment.