Olivet Nazarene University Endowment

Olivet Nazarene University Endowment

The Olivet Nazarene University Endowment operates through the Olivet Nazarene University Foundation, established to receive and steward gifts that permanently support the university's educational mission. Dr. Gregg Chenoweth serves as University President and Foundation board member, while Dr. Walter Webb runs the Foundation as Executive Director. The endowment's corpus consists of donor-restricted gifts where the initial principal is held intact and only annual investment earnings are distributed, a classic endowment structure tied to the Church of the Nazarene denomination. Endowment assets are managed to produce a dependable income stream for university operations, with distributions supporting scholarships, faculty positions, and facilities maintenance. The investment strategy reflects standard endowment-model principles — total-return orientation with annual spending-rate discipline — though no specific asset-class allocations or external manager relationships are publicly disclosed. The Foundation maintains ties to the Chicago Central District Church of the Nazarene for regional scholarship coordination. Named physical assets held in proximity to the Bourbonnais, Illinois campus include the Decker Quadrangle mixed-use property and the Foundation's administrative office on Main Street. The Foundation participates in NACUBO, the National Association of College and University Business Officers, providing access to peer benchmarking and endowment-management best practices. Additionally, the Heritage Society recognizes donors who have included the university in their estate plans, a pipeline that feeds back into the endowment corpus. No dedicated investment office or internal staff roster beyond the Executive Director role is publicly disclosed. The endowment's structural distinction lies in its model: a donor-funded, spend-rate-constrained pool governed through a church-affiliated foundation, rather than a stand-alone investment office. This architecture channels all decision-making through Webb and the Foundation board, with no external investment committee or outsourced chief investment officer relationship disclosed — placing the full fiduciary and operational burden on a compact, embedded administrative team.