University of California, Davis Foundation

The foundation does not operate a standalone investment office. It allocates 83.6% of its assets to the UC Regents' General Endowment Pool, which is managed by the University of California's Office of the Chief Investment Officer under Jagdeep Singh Bachher. The foundation's board of trustees, chaired by Deborah Neff, oversees the remaining assets and sets broad policy. Former investment committee chair Joncarlo Mark, who founded Upwelling Capital Group, and past trustee Giacomo Marini of Noventi Ventures have brought venture-capital and institutional-investing experience to the board.

The GEP is a commingled pool that invests across public equities, fixed income, private equity, real estate, and absolute return. By routing the vast majority of its capital into the GEP, the UC Davis Foundation effectively adopts the Regents' strategic asset allocation, manager selection, and risk framework. This arrangement limits the foundation's ability to pursue a distinct investment strategy but provides access to an institutional-quality portfolio with significant scale and reduced administrative overhead.

The foundation's structure prioritizes pooled investment through the GEP, but it has participated in selective direct initiatives. One confirmed example is the Investing in the Future of Medicine Fund, a partnership with co-investor HM Venture Partners. It also holds donated assets including a cryptocurrency portfolio and a collection of real estate holdings such as Aggie Square and Orchard Park, though these appear to be donated assets rather than discretionary deployment.

The Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art is a UC Davis campus museum funded principally by Maria Manetti Shrem and Jan Shrem, who have contributed over $20 million. The foundation holds the related art collection and manages the gifts that support the museum's operations. The Shrems are among the foundation's most prominent donors, and the museum represents the foundation's largest cultural asset.

The UC Davis Foundation maintains a cryptocurrency donation program and holds a donated cryptocurrency portfolio among its assets. This reflects an effort to capture gifts from a donor base that includes technology-aligned alumni and reflects broader trends among university foundations seeking to accommodate digital-asset philanthropy.

The foundation is a member of the Intentional Endowments Network, an organization focused on sustainable and mission-aligned investing practices. Its impact is exercised primarily through participation in the UC Regents' broader ESG integration efforts, which include fossil-fuel divestment commitments and sustainable-investment mandates applied at the GEP level.

Maria Manetti Shrem, Jan Shrem, and the late Margrit Mondavi are among the most significant patrons, with gifts directed primarily toward the arts and cultural programming. Board leaders including Deborah Neff, Joncarlo Mark, and Giacomo Marini bring financial-sector expertise that influences governance and investment committee decisions. The foundation's donor base is broad, but these named figures have shaped its most visible commitments.