No doubt it is at least partly true that a lots of Bates grads go into non-profits, but there are definitely those who choose the big salaried jobs.
@sarahbrown24 their grads don’t tend to go on to jobs that pay the big bucks. But the remarkable tenure of Clayton Spencer saw a HUGE increase in donations to the college. She doubled the endowment to well over $400 million. I am sure Jenkins will keep that ball rolling.
Wesleyan used to be super rich … like at one time THE wealthiest LAC in the land apparently. How that came about I don’t know, but like they had some pretty valuable investments and owned some publication called My Weekly Reader, which was popular I guess at one time way back. The story goes that they never learned to fund raise and were super lazy about it. Then, at some point one of the Presidents went on this capital building craze (we forget that in the olden days before the facilities arms race schools didn’t throw up buildings right and left like they do now) and they spent a bunch of money, which involved, I think, selling off some of their investments.
All the while their peers were fund raising and investing in bull market after bull market and Wes got left. in. the. dust, particularly as compared their Little Three friends. From one of the if not the wealthiest small college to middle of the road. Just like that. This while essentially doubling their enrollment when they decided, again, to admit women.
When my D started there the endowment was between $500 and $600 million. They get a lot of research money so I guess they weren’t missing it, but then they dropped need blind because financial aid. There was huge backlash for that move (still is) so they started to fund raise, and lo and behold they realized they have some rich alumni. They also fired their CIO, a guy who apparently was doing nothing but pursuing his own investment interests while being paid by Wes, and hired one of David Swensen’s prodigies in Anne Martin. All of this lead to the endowment of close to 1.7 billion and counting, today.
All of this to say, Bates can raise money. I know you meant it tongue-in-cheek, but Bates has plenty of wealthy alumni. They need to get on capital campaigns and make sure they have the right person running the investments office (or right firm if it’s OCIO). The latter, IMO, really moves the needle. For another example closer to home at Bates, look at Paula Volent, another Swensen disciple, former CIO at Bowdoin who is credited with getting them from the mid 400s up to over $3 billion. Of course, you have to have something to invest, so the fundraising campaigns are critical.
Bates has a very solid brand itself, it’s part of a conference of schools whose profile is growing by the day, and has a loving and loyal alumni base. They can and will raise the money.
Spencer doubled the endowment in her tenure. They were quite aggressively fundraising, certainly while my D was there from 2016-2020. Judging from all the emails and mailings I still get, I think they are continuing their fundraising goals.
That’s good news. It looks like in 2025 they transitioned the management of their endowment to Investure to serve as OCIO. Probably a good choice for a sustainable, long-term growth approach. You’re not likely going to hit big home runs with their (Investure’s) model, so fundraising will continue to be key for Bates.
No doubt that doubling a $200 million endowment in 11 years is a solid performance, but considering the bull markets over that time span it isn’t crazy.
It’s going to be interesting to see how endowments that are heavy to private equity (Wes and Williams are two that I happen to be familiar with), will fare. In the near term, returns are muted and this is a good buying dip for PE but you’re also pretty miserable right now if you’re already there and are on the outside looking in on public markets, which are inflated on AI crack valuations. Fortunately, even if you lack the discipline to not panic and sell during downturns, PE investments are notoriously hard to unwind and thus illiquid. So those schools are married to their portfolios whether they like it or not (and right now, they’re not liking it). No idea where Bates has concentrated their investments but the move to Investure is probably a smart one for them.
Wesleyan’s main source of income, starting around 1948, was a cash cow called, American Educational Publications (which did, indeed publish among other things - the public-school mainstay, “My Weekly Reader”) that somehow got gifted to them by an alum (I believe it was old man Davison for whom the print collection and former art center were named after.) I’m guesstimating at least half Wesleyan’s operating budget was coming out of profits from AEP from the late 1940s until 1965 when the IRS pressured it to sell the business at which point, Xerox stepped in and gave Wes stock valued at approximately half-a-billion in 2026 constant dollars. That was when the endowment really started being measured by market value.
I’m a little hazy on the timeline, but the stock’s value doubled within a very short time and that was what got everyone’s attention. Basically, from about 1965 to 1970, the endowment’s market value hovered ~$1Bn as President Butterfield moved heaven and a good deal of earth to prepare the then all-men’s college for coeducation which he envisioned as virtually absorbing the equivalent of an entire college for women. Crucial to that plan was the construction of a creative arts center worthy of “the wealthiest college in the country”.
So, yes. A good deal of the Xerox stock’s capital gains was spent down just as Wesleyan was going co-ed, beginning in 1969. But double-digit inflation from the LBJ/Nixon years also left its mark. What’s interesting is that even after it had lost more than half its buying power, Wesleyan’s endowment still exceeded Amherst and Williams’ for much of the next decade - though not by much. A&W really pulled ahead with the dot.com phenomenon of the 1990s (Steve Case, co-founder of AOL was a Williams alum.) But because they couldn’t afford to absorb as many women as Wesleyan could when they each turned co-ed, they were only able to achieve gender parity by cutting back on the number of men they enrolled (which is why Wesleyan is 50% larger than they are to this day.)
In addition to being a Bates booster, I am a Wesleyan alum. I appreciate everything Wes has done to stay fiscally healthy. I have nothing but respect for the growth of Bates’ endowment and the way that their resources are being managed currently. It is a really different school from Wesleyan. A lot smaller, a lot more out of the way for folks from NYC and LA who love Wesleyan, and with a really different history than its neighbor Bowdoin. (I love Bowdoin too.) I hope Bates is able to stay true to its mission and continue to graduate healthy, balanced, community-minded public servants.
I hear you, and Bates’ mission is an important one. It’s also an expensive one. I think they can stay true to who they are and still build a war chest to insulate themselves from the reality that the LAC model is not the most economically efficient way to educate people.
Truth is, they have a lot of money now relative to most small colleges. So, it’s not like they’re in any kind of trouble, and we’re talking about degrees of wealth not rich/poor. But more money in their permanent fund further ensures their future is well secured.
Makes it seem like Colby really doesn’t want folks to be able to see how they have moved up the selectivity ranks … I suspect more ED-centric than Middlebury, perhaps significantly?
Amherst is certainly spending the bucks! The new $205 million Ford Student Center and Dining Commons opens next month on the site of the old Merrill Science Building. Alum Bill Ford got naming rights for a mere $50 million donation. Next up are plans for a replacement for Frost Library. Both Williams and Amherst have the luxury of endowments that likely will each exceed $4 billion this year.
With Frost’s razing, Amherst will have completely removed all traces of its post-WWII, Baby-Boom construction period including, Valentine Dining Hall (1948), Mead Art Center (1950), The Social Dorms (1964), Merrill Science Center (1968) and most likely Keefe Campus Center (1987) (basically, the equivalent of Colby’s entire campus) by the time they are done: The Social Dorms – The Consecrated Eminence
I’m quite jealous of that new Student Center and the still unnamed Science Center-- gather no Amherst alum has stepped up with a large enough donation. If the Amherst Trustees were smart, they’d poach the folks behind UMass Dining then maybe USNews might finally move them up in the rankings . At least it’s no contest with Sawyer Library > Frost.
) has already donated the funds for a new fitness facility at Bates, along with much-needed atheltic facility upgrades. Bates announces Stoddard Fitness and Well-Being Center and athletics facilities upgrades | News | Bates College
. At least it’s no contest with Sawyer Library > Frost.