Saginaw Valley State University Endowment

The SVSU Foundation Board of Directors governs the endowment, chaired by Mary F. Draves, a former Dow executive. President George Grant Jr. serves as First Vice Chair. The foundation is likely to delegate day-to-day investment management to an outsourced chief investment officer (OCIO) or a consultant, as is common for public universities of SVSU's size, but the specific advisor has not been publicly disclosed.

SVSU has not published a recent AUM figure. Regional public universities in Michigan typically hold endowments ranging from $20 million to $150 million, well below the median for universities participating in the NACUBO-Commonfund Study. The foundation's assets also include campus real estate and art collections not captured in a traditional AUM metric.

Like most public-university endowments of its scale, the SVSU Foundation almost certainly invests through commingled funds and separate-account mandates managed by third-party asset managers rather than making direct co-investments. The foundation's participation in the NACUBO-Commonfund Study suggests use of Commonfund or similar pooled vehicles.

The SVSU Foundation is a legally separate 501(c)(3) organization that serves as the primary fundraising and endowment-management arm of Saginaw Valley State University. It holds the endowment's financial assets as well as on-campus physical holdings like the Carmona College of Business building and the Marshall M. Fredericks Sculpture Museum collection.

The foundation's holdings extend beyond traditional financial assets to include the 7400 Bay Road campus, the Scott L. Carmona College of Business, the Marshall M. Fredericks Sculpture Museum collection, the University Art Gallery collection, the Jo Anne and Donald Petersen Sculpture Garden, and the SVSU Nature Trail. These are mission-related assets that do not produce investment income.