Franklin College

Franklin College

Franklin College opened in 1834 as Indiana's first coeducational institution, predating the formal endowment model but today operating a pool Altss estimates near $94 million. The board is chaired by Pete Cangany, a retired Ernst & Young partner, while Bryan Spetter — a trustee and CIO of SB3 Capital — formerly served as the college's vice president of finance. The institution maintains a voluntary affiliation with American Baptist Churches USA and holds membership in the NCAA Division III. The endowment allocates across an unusually broad mandate for its size, tagged by Altss to include buyout, distressed debt, seed through late-stage venture, fund of funds, mezzanine, natural resources, secondaries and turnaround strategies. The college's deep Indiana roots are reinforced by a durable relationship with Eli Lilly and Company: trustees Laura Johnson and Julie Gilmore connect Lilly, and the Lilly Endowment has been a recurring grantor. Real assets on the balance sheet include the main campus at 101 Branigin Blvd, a biology woodland parcel, and the B.F. Hamilton Library — which houses the Roger Douglas Branigin Archives and the David Demaree Banta Collection. The investment function operates within a lean governance structure, with no dedicated internal investment office disclosed. In addition to its endowment, the college stewards the Franklin College of Indiana Foundation, though the degree of separation between philanthropic and investment assets is not publicly detailed. What distinguishes Franklin's architecture is the combination of a small, historically Baptist liberal arts charter with a strategy menu that ranges from seed venture to distressed debt. Board-level investment decision-making is informed by trustees with operational finance experience, avoiding the outsourced-OCIO model common among endowments of similar scale. This practitioner-led approach, paired with a long-standing Lilly network, creates a sourcing and oversight structure that blurs the line between institutional investment committee and operator-led family capital.