Saint Francis University

Saint Francis University

Saint Francis University was founded in 1847 by the Franciscan Friars of the Third Order Regular, making it one of the oldest Catholic universities in the United States. The endowment exists to provide a permanent source of financial support for scholarships, academic programs, and the maintenance of the university's physical campus in rural Cambria County, Pennsylvania. President Very Rev. Malachi Van Tassell, T.O.R. oversees the institution, while major benefactor Mark Pasquerilla has provided transformative lifetime giving. The endowment deploys capital through a fund-of-funds and secondaries strategy, accessing private market exposure without the internal staffing required for direct investing. The university also controls a distinctive set of directly held operating assets on its Loretto campus — including the Saint Francis University Golf Course, a water treatment plant, and an Aviation Education Center — alongside land holdings such as the Immaculate Conception Chapel property. The institution maintains a beneficial interest in a remainder trust, adding a layer of planned-giving complexity to its balance sheet. The Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art permanent collection sits on campus, creating a cultural asset not commonly found on small-university endowment books. Saint Francis University is an active member of NACUBO and the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Pennsylvania, placing it within the standard benchmarking and networking infrastructure for higher-education endowments. Its athletic programs compete in the NCAA Division I Northeast Conference. The endowment also maintains relationships with external foundations, including the Charles Koch Foundation and the Knee Family Foundation, which have provided grant funding to the university. Unlike many peers in the NACUBO universe, Saint Francis blends a standard endowment investment program with direct ownership of revenue-generating campus infrastructure — the water treatment plant and golf course function as operating assets rather than purely mission-related real estate. This hybrid asset mix, combined with planned-giving vehicles and a compact estimated $60 million pool, creates a balance-sheet complexity that demands careful liquidity management from a small internal team.