Employees' Retirement Plan of Duke University

DUMAC, Inc., the Durham-based investment management organization that also oversees the Duke University endowment and The Duke Endowment. DUMAC operates as a nonprofit subsidiary of Duke and manages all three pools on an integrated platform, which gives the retirement plan access to the same asset classes and manager relationships as the endowment.

The retirement plan shares the same investment platform and manager roster as the endowment but with distinct liability-driven constraints. The plan must meet ERISA funding, liquidity, and benefit-payment requirements that do not apply to the endowment, so DUMAC adjusts asset allocation and liquidity profiles accordingly, even while investing through shared vehicles and relationships.

Yes. DUMAC has been a consistent limited partner in venture capital and private equity funds on behalf of the retirement plan. The plan was singled out by the National Association of Investment Companies as a leading corporate pension for commitments to diverse-managed funds, reflecting a sustained allocation to emerging and diverse VC managers.

Both are managed by DUMAC, Inc. The Duke Endowment is a private foundation established by James B. Duke in 1924, separate from the university's retirement plan, but their assets run on the same investment platform. This shared management structure creates operational efficiencies and gives the retirement plan exposure to institutional-quality deal flow sourced for the foundation.

Duke does not publicly disclose a standalone AUM figure for the retirement plan. The assets are pooled with the endowment for investment purposes. Altss estimates the pension component falls in a $5–9 billion range based on public filings and typical allocation splits among DUMAC-managed pools.