Millikin University

Millikin University

James Millikin, a Decatur businessman who made his fortune in livestock and land investment, founded the university bearing his name in 1901. The endowment exists as a perpetual funding vehicle, generating income to sustain student scholarships, research programming, and endowed faculty chairs. Millikin University remains affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (USA). Investment strategy blends a balanced portfolio with a hybrid fund-of-funds approach, direct secondaries, and co-investment participation. Asset class exposure spans real estate, natural resources, intellectual property and royalties, and collectibles and passion assets — the latter reflected in holdings such as the Millikin University Permanent Collection at Perkinson Gallery and the GSA Fine Arts Collection on loan. The portfolio operates with a North America-only geographic mandate. Technology focuses include positions in AI/ML, cybersecurity, and quantum computing, alongside deeper allocations to healthcare services and data analytics. Governance sits with the Board of Trustees, chaired by Kathy Thomforde; Case McGee serves as vice chairman and treasurer. The endowment participates in the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO) and the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges, standard peer networks for institutional asset owners of this scale. Millikin also operates the Tabor Investment Portfolio, a student-managed fund providing experiential learning alongside the endowment's professional management. The endowment's structural differentiator lies in its dual-purpose architecture: it is both a fiduciary investment pool and a teaching asset. The Tabor Investment Portfolio gives students direct portfolio management experience using real capital, a model uncommon among endowments under $100 million. This integration of investment operations with the university's educational mission creates a governance layer around succession and institutional knowledge that purely financial endowments lack.