November 11, 2012
Nonprofit Endowment Returns Still Sluggish in 2012, Survey Finds
Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens, in Boothbay, established its endowment in 2007, the year it opened its 248-acre public garden.
Endowments at the nation’s charities and foundations are on pace for a second year in a row of lackluster investment returns in 2012, according to a new Chronicle survey.
The survey of 268 organizations that reported two years of data found that endowments recorded a median return on investment of 5 percent in 2011 and are seeing a similar rate of return this year, compared with a 12-percent gain in 2010.
The modest gains aren’t enough to recover the steep
