Olivet Nazarene University

Olivet Nazarene University

Olivet Nazarene University, founded in 1907, is a private Christian liberal-arts university in Bourbonnais, Illinois, affiliated with the Church of the Nazarene. Its endowment exists to provide financial ballast for student aid, faculty research, and campus maintenance. The institution draws roughly 3,000 undergraduates and offers programs across arts and sciences, business, education, and theology. The endowment deploys capital through a fund-of-funds model, meaning it selects external managers rather than making direct investments. Allocator priorities center on capital preservation and steady distributions to the operating budget. Historical portfolios at comparably sized Nazarene institutions tilt heavily toward public equities and fixed income, with limited alternatives exposure — a function of both scale and a governing board's fiduciary caution. There are no publicly disclosed direct co-investments, venture positions, or real-asset plays. The investment committee, which reports to the university's board of trustees, oversees the pool. No dedicated chief investment officer or internal investment staff is publicly identified — a common feature at endowments below $100M where the CFO or VP of finance handles oversight alongside external consultants. Olivet has not publicly announced any fund commitment or manager hire (per public record). Institutionally, Olivet is governed under the manual of the Church of the Nazarene, which places ultimate authority with a board of trustees that includes denomination officials. This confessional governance structure differentiates it from secular endowments: the board's fiduciary duty operates within boundaries defined by the church's doctrine and social principles, not purely risk-adjusted return maximization.