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Monmouth College Endowment
Monmouth College founded its endowment alongside the college's 1853 charter in Monmouth, Illinois. Alumna Marilyn Johnston (Class of 1948) left the college's...
Monmouth College Endowment
Monmouth College founded its endowment alongside the college's 1853 charter in Monmouth, Illinois. Alumna Marilyn Johnston (Class of 1948) left the college's second-largest gift: a 780-acre farm valued at nearly $12 million (per Altss research). Former Board Chair William Goldsborough separately provided a $5 million leadership gift (per Altss research). These donations—plus the college's Permanent Art Collection and the James Christie Shields Collection of Art & Antiquities—form the endowment's non-market book. The endowment allocates across farmland, public equities, and fixed-income strategies. Farmland dominates the portfolio's real-asset sleeve, including the Johnston Farm in Mercer County, the Monmouth College Educational Farm & Garden, and additional holdings in Warren County (per Altss research). Alongside the dirt, the fund holds a diversified public-markets pool for liquidity and capital preservation, with spending policy distributions covering financial aid, faculty chairs, and the preservation of campus buildings like Peterson Residence Hall and Sigma Phi Epsilon House. The endowment does not publish a team headcount, though oversight flows through the college's President (Patricia Draves), Board Chair Mark Kopinski, and VP for Development Hannah Maher. Monmouth is a founding member of the Associated Colleges of the Midwest (ACM), a 14-member consortium that shares academic programs and resources (per Altss research). The endowment also participates in the Commonfund Institute and NACUBO studies to benchmark governance and performance. Monmouth's structural differentiator is its deliberate concentration in Illinois row-crop farmland. Most small endowments avoid direct real-asset concentration; Monmouth's donor base, anchored by alumni farmers and local families, has made a working-land posture the fund's defining characteristic. The strategy generates annual rental income and appreciation, a hedge-like return stream that few comparably sized endowments can replicate.
General information
Firm type
Endowment / Foundation
Year founded
1853
Location
Region
North America
Country
United States
City
Monmouth
Corporate office
Monmouth, Illinois, United States
Principals
Patricia Draves
15th President of Monmouth College
Mark Kopinski
Chair of the Board of Trustees
Hannah Maher
Vice President for Development and College Relations
Marilyn Johnston
Donor (Alumna, Class of 1948)
William Goldsborough
Former Chair of the Board of Trustees and Donor
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
Who manages the Monmouth College Endowment's investments?
President Patricia Draves and the Board of Trustees, chaired by Mark Kopinski, oversee the endowment's strategic allocation. VP for Development Hannah Maher handles donor relations that feed the fund. The college does not disclose an internal investment office or outsourced CIO.
Why is farmland such a large part of the Monmouth College Endowment?
Alumna Marilyn Johnston's bequest of a 780-acre Mercer County farm—valued at nearly $12 million—created an outsized farmland weight that the endowment has maintained rather than diversified away. Additional working farms in Warren County and the college's own Educational Farm further concentrate the real-asset book, generating annual rental income and long-term appreciation.
Is Monmouth College an active direct investor, or does it primarily use fund commitments?
The endowment's directly held assets are physical: farms, campus real estate, and art. For liquid securities, the fund likely uses pooled vehicles and multi-manager structures, consistent with Commonfund Institute participation and NACUBO peer-endowment practices.
How large is the Monmouth College Endowment, and can the number be independently verified?
Monmouth College does not publicly disclose its endowment size. Altss estimates the pool at approximately $140 million based on the scale of known gifts, comparative peer-endowment data, and the scope of the college's spending needs. The figure should be read as a directional estimate, not a validated reported number.
Does Monmouth College run a philanthropic foundation separate from its endowment?
Yes, the Monmouth College Foundation operates alongside the endowment. The Foundation channels donor gifts—including the Johnston and Goldsborough contributions—toward scholarships, academic programs, and capital projects, while the endowment provides ongoing operating and financial-aid support.
Profile maintained by Altss using OSINT (open-source intelligence), regulatory filings, licensed data partners, and verified direct submissions. Read the methodology. Last updated: . Continuous refresh with full update cycles at least every 30 days.
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