Abilene Christian University is giving Ivy League endowments a run for their money in the market

Key points

• Abilene Christian University's endowment returned 13.6% over 10 years through June 2026, beating Yale's 9.4% through June 2025.
• ACU's endowment surpassed $1 billion as of June 30, 2026, while Yale's was $44.1 billion in FY 2025.
• Smaller schools like Reed and Colby also reported returns above larger Ivy League peers in recent years.

Abilene Christian University, a private Christian university in Abilene, Texas, has outperformed Yale University's endowment over the past decade, according to data provided by the school. ACU's 10-year return reached 13.6% through June 2026, compared with Yale's 9.4% through June 2025. ACU's endowment surpassed $1 billion as of June 30, 2026, while Yale's stood at $44.1 billion in its most recent disclosure for fiscal 2025.

The comparison highlights how smaller endowments can rival larger ones in market performance, though reporting periods differ. Yale has not yet published its 2026 numbers, and the NACUBO-Commonfund Study of Endowments for FY 2026 will be published in February 2027.

How ACU achieved its returns

Joe Lee, president and chief investment officer of ACIMCO, the university-controlled investment company managing ACU's portfolio, said many small, sound decisions early on have compounded over time. He said ACU follows standard endowment practices, with an equity-oriented philosophy, long time horizons, good managers and diversification. Lee also said being small can be an advantage because larger endowments have fund-sized thresholds below which they are not worth their time. "We can look at a $100 million fund and get excited about it and get something material," Lee said.

ACU's portfolio is a little more than half private investments and a little less than half public markets, Lee said. He said privately held and publicly traded equity returned similar amounts in fiscal 2026. The endowment also has donor stipulations, such as funds designated only for chemistry majors or underprivileged students.

We can look at a $100 million fund and get excited about it and get something material

— Joe Lee

Other small schools and caveats

Reed College, with an $885 million endowment, reported returns of 7.5%, 12.4% and 11.6% over the past three fiscal years through June 2025, ahead of Yale's 1.8%, 5.7% and 11.1% in the same years. Colby College reported an 18.2% return for the year ended June 30, 2026, and a 10.5% annualized return over the past 10 years, with its endowment at $1.4 billion as of June 30, 2026.

Anna Dunn Tabke, founder of Leita Advisory, said comparisons between small endowments and giants like Yale need care because time periods may not match. She said the bar for top 5% over 10 years rose from about 8.45% as of June 2025 to roughly 10.5% a year later. R. Keith Sauls of Farther Finance said the recent edge for small schools is real but partly timing, and that larger endowments generally come out ahead by about one to 1.5 percentage points a year over time.