Lewis & Clark College

Lewis & Clark College

Founded in 1867 in Portland, Oregon, Lewis & Clark College operates a liberal arts college, a graduate school, and a law school. Its endowment, which held a market value of $324.3 million across nearly 90 funds as of May 31, 2025, exists to preserve principal and provide a stable earnings stream for the institution. President Robin Holmes-Sullivan and CFO Andrea Dooley oversee the financial architecture, with the Board of Trustees chaired by Paula Hayes and vice-chaired by Patrick Mahaffy. The endowment deploys capital across a diversified mix of asset classes. Confirmed allocations include private equity, venture capital, hedge funds, real estate, natural resources, infrastructure, and private credit. ClimateTech and Energy Transition & Renewables are explicit focuses. Geographic mandates span North America, Europe, Asia, Oceania, South America, and Africa. The fund engages through direct co-investments, fund-of-funds structures, secondaries, and distressed debt. A tangible on-campus asset, the Frank Manor House, reflects the endowment’s ownership of private real assets within Portland. Lewis & Clark is a founding member of the Intentional Endowments Network and a pilot participant in its Endowment Impact Benchmark. The college holds a Gold AASHE STARS rating for sustainability. A recent operational marker: Heidi Hu, a trustee and retired Transamerica Investment Management executive, committed $5 million to endow the college’s Career Accelerator program. The endowment’s structural differentiator is its binding policy architecture. The college has adopted ESG criteria, a fossil fuel divestment strategy, and an institutional net zero investment policy targeting the complete elimination of greenhouse gas emissions from the portfolio. Few endowments of this size combine all three commitments as binding constraints on asset allocation, making the fund a live case study in mission-aligned investing for private liberal arts colleges.