Annual Report

Greetings from the IU Foundation

Every day, we see what happens when generosity meets opportunity. Thanks to the generosity of donors who believe in the promise of a great university, 2025 was a landmark year. By exceeding our fundraising goals, donors provided life-changing scholarships for our students and empowered our faculty to pursue transformative research.

From our campuses across Indiana to our more than 805,000 living alumni worldwide, the IU spirit is everywhere. The IU Foundation remains dedicated to growing this support—opening doors for the next generation of leaders, discoverers, and artists. We are deeply grateful for your investment in our students, our discoveries and creative works, and our beloved university.

Ever true to IU,

J T. ForbesPresident and Chief Executive Officer, Indiana University Foundation
Louis JordanVice Chair, Indiana University Foundation Board

Fiscal year 2025 highlights

In support of our mission to maximize private support for IU, the IU Foundation business model includes five key steps: Engage alumni and friends, Raise funds, Receive funds, Invest funds, and Utilize funds. The following data represent totals from July 1, 2024, through June 30, 2025.

Engage alumni and friends

The IU Foundation builds and stewards lifelong relationships with current and potential supporters through a wide variety of outreach opportunities.

Snapshot of engagement activities

  • Emails, care calls, letters, videos, newsletters, reports, and online features to communicate gratitude to donors and share impact stories
  • Groundbreaking giving circles—such as Women’s Philanthropy at IU, the Black Philanthropy Circle, and the Queer Philanthropy Circle—which unite supporters with shared passions to enrich the IU experience and ensure that IU is a place for all students to thrive
  • Parent & Family Giving, an effort to engage IU parents in the life and mission of the university
  • IU Student Foundation, a student organization that shapes the philanthropic leaders of tomorrow, and the IUPUI Student Foundation’s Jagathon, a student-led event that raises money for Riley Children’s Hospital
  • Recognition societies, which honor generous donors for their commitment to and support of IU

Through these initiatives and more, we inspire current and potential supporters to connect their personal and philanthropic values with the mission of IU.

15,474New donors

$129.1MTotal value of planned gifts documented

330Total number of planned gifts documented

$1k–$10MRange of gift value

$100,000Median planned gift

$42.4MValue of realized gifts

Since our founding in 1820, generous individuals and organizations have partnered with IU, fostering a legacy of academic innovation, groundbreaking research, and transformative opportunities for students. Every gift makes a difference in fulfilling our mission to provide a world-class education and enrich lives in Indiana and beyond.

— IU President Pamela Whitten

Gifts received by type

Demonstrating our donors’ strong commitment to IU and long-term philanthropic goals, planned gifts and pledges accounted for more than 49% of total gifts received.

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Invest funds

By taking a disciplined, consistent, and diversified approach to investing funds, the IU Foundation generates steady, long-term funding for the university’s people, places, and programs.

Endowment performance over time

The IU Foundation has built a broadly diversified portfolio with a strong equity bias, striking an optimal balance of providing long-term growth with acceptable levels of volatility. This chart illustrates the growth of an endowed scholarship from its initial funding of $100,000 in 1990, along with the cumulative value of earnings distributed to support scholarships. This endowed scholarship would have paid out just over $308,000 by 2025, while the corpus would have grown to more than $263,000.

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Pooled long-term investment growth

The pooled long-term investment portfolio holds more than $3.8 billion in assets. The current size of the portfolio reflects the combination of generous gifts and effective investment strategy. Both are sources of pride and crucial to our success in growing the asset base, which translates into increased support to IU students, faculty, and programs.

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Investment performance

The IU Foundation’s investment performance has exceeded the long-term objective of maintaining purchasing power over time. Since its inception, in 1989, the portfolio has posted an average annual return of 8.9%, consistently surpassing internal goals and comparing favorably versus the performance of peer institutions.

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Pooled long-term asset allocation

Beyond the risk control benefits of proper diversification, asset allocation decisions are designed to emphasize the most attractive opportunities and to provide exposure to various investments that perform well in different economic environments.

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Use of donor funds

Funds utilized each year are made available from the earnings on donor-restricted endowments combined with donor annual giving. During fiscal year 2025, with nearly 90% of the funds made available directed to student, faculty, research, and academic support, it is clear that pursuing excellence in world-class education, research, and scholarship is the greatest priority for IU donors.

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Without this scholarship, my internship at the Library of Congress would not have been financially possible. While interning with the Library’s American Folklife Center, I have been able to put my skills into action.

Joseph Johnson, PhD candidate in ethnomusicology, recipient of IU’s Walter Center Internship Scholarship