UC San Francisco Foundation Financial Highlights

UCSF Foundation Investment Company Update

By David Harkins, Founding President and CIO

In FY 25, UCSF’s endowment grew to $3.3 billion, earning a return of 9.2% and generating a $148 million payout to the university. Since the investment company’s founding, the endowment’s annualized return of 8.5% has outpaced inflation and nearly quadrupled the annual payout, which increased from $39 million to $148 million today.

Three strategies drove our success in FY 25:

• Public equities: A focus on companies that generated consistent cash flow and were undervalued, while avoiding more speculative companies.
• Private markets: Long-term partners and businesses made steady progress toward returning our capital.
• Risk management: Risk-reducing strategies in a portion of the portfolio, in preparation for unpredictable markets.

Our long-term growth reflects a clear, consistent approach: work with exceptional partners who share our focus on investment fundamentals and avoid chasing short-term trends. We also deploy a portion of our funds into high-growth private opportunities, taking advantage of today’s trends, such as AI. We aim to build an “all-weather” portfolio and measure success over many years rather than focusing on year-by-year results

Ultimately, our goal is to provide meaningful financial support, giving UCSF more ways to advance its mission of delivering world-class patient care, scientific discovery, and health care education.

UCSF Foundation Investment Company Board

Endowment Management

The endowment is divided into two pools with one objective: protecting and growing the endowment to support UCSF’s mission. The UCSF Foundation Investment Company manages the Foundation Endowment Pool, which comprises 43 percent of the endowment. The other 57 percent is managed within the UC Regents General Endowment Pool. Each pool has a long-term investment approach aimed at preserving purchasing power for successive generations while ensuring payout for the University’s immediate needs.

Investment Performance Ending June 30, 2025

The following chart illustrates returns received and the benchmarks used to evaluate performance by the UCSF and UC Regents’ foundations.

Payout calculations
The current gross payout rate for endowments for funds managed by the UC Regents is 5 percent of the 60-month trailing average of the endowment unit market value. For funds managed by the UCSF Foundation, the payment formula is 4.75 percent of the 36-month trailing average of the endowment unit market value

Total UCSF Endowment

In the fiscal year ending June 30, 2025, the endowment totaled $7.56 billion, including internal campus transfers. Gifts received in June are invested in July and are not reflected in these totals.

Private support by designation

UCSF received a total of $788.9 million in gifts and grants in fiscal year 2025 for endowment, current use, and capital funds.

UCSF Endowment Payout Growth