The Global Economics Group, the Knight Foundation, and the Center for Business and Human Rights at New York University Stern School of Management (NYU CBHR) collaborated to conduct this research and produce this paper. This means that the endowments of 25 of the wealthiest private higher education institutions and 25 of the wealthiest public higher education institutions are invested in investment companies owned by women and racial or ethnic minorities (“diversity-owned companies”). This is a continuation of the 2022 interim report on the extent to which people are employed.1 This document is based on an interim document with added and updated data.
These institutions' endowments total $566 billion, representing more than two-thirds of the nation's higher education endowments. In addition to vast financial capital, these endowments support the operations of some of the nation's most socially impactful institutions and have the potential to exert influence through investment decisions.
Participation in the study is voluntary. Of the 50 institutions invited, 18 institutions fully participated in the study by providing a directory of asset managers for independent analysis or by making their directory publicly available, and 8 institutions self-reported summary statistics. , 24 institutions did not participate at all. This is significant given that just over half of the institutions invited contributed to this study and only 18 institutions provided complete data for independent analysis by the Global Economics Group. Study results are not necessarily representative of the whole population.
Notably, six public agencies participated in the study following public records requests from Knight Foundation attorneys.2 We consistently asked private institutions to participate because they do not have comparable public records processes. Despite these efforts, only two additional private institutions engaged with us beyond the interim report.3
