Steward’s Fiscal Management

As we look back on the last 50 years, the financial stability of the school has significantly improved through careful budgeting, enrollment growth, generous donors, effective treasury policies, and endowment growth and management. 

With almost 90% of our budget derived from net tuition and fees, we must manage our expenditures within these constraints. Our financial plan provides for the school to operate within our annual tuition income while utilizing funds from auxiliary programs, charitable donations, and endowment and interest earnings to provide for program enhancements and innovative programming. Our Variable Tuition budget is also partially supported by these additional funds. 

As of June 30, 2024, our endowment exceeded $24.5 million in unrestricted and restricted funds. Approximately $200,000 of the 2023-24 budget was funded by the annual contribution from the endowment. The annual contribution to the school is based on a formula that utilizes the market value and appreciation of the endowment over the last three years. As the endowment has grown from gifts and net appreciation, this annual gift continues to grow as well. Additionally, almost $50,000 was withdrawn from the endowment and is restricted for certain programs such as health and wellness and scholarships. 

Since 2010, the school’s endowment has been managed by Spider Management, which is the endowment management company of the University of Richmond. Spider Management is the first university-owned investment firm that offers its services to unaffiliated organizations. Through a unique Outsourced Chief Investment Officer (OCIO) model, Spider Management strives to share the resources, access, and stability of a large endowment investment office with other non-profit organizations. Our endowment significantly benefits from being actively managed in this manner in a portfolio worth $6 billion. 

Since 2010, the net income derived from our investments at Spider Management has exceeded $18 million. The school’s budget has been supported by $6.4 million from the annual contributions from the endowment over this time period. Since our original investment, our net return is almost 8%, which is the target rate for our endowment as set by our investment policy. The endowment has also greatly benefited from generous donations, including the recently completed Steward50 capital campaign. Contributions of approximately $5.8 million have been transferred into Spider Management from the campaign, and as the final pledges are completed, additional funds will be added. Gifts and income from the endowment make a significant difference today and in the future to our school’s budget. 

In addition to endowment income, the school has been able to take advantage of the current interest rate market to earn significantly higher returns on cash balances than in past years. This interest income helps to offset inflationary costs in other areas of the budget. With short-term returns averaging 4-5%, this has benefited the school’s ability to earn interest income. 

The school’s approach to maximizing charitable contributions, endowment and interest income, and auxiliary income enables us to enhance the programs that we are offering to our students while controlling tuition increases, especially in the current inflationary environment. Our financial goals are to maintain a budget that supports the mission of the school and provide every opportunity that we can to our students, faculty, and staff.