YOUR THE COLUMBIA ENDOWMENT Lasting... · sustained growth in the endowment allows the University to build out its leadership, from discoveries in the classroom and the laboratory

THE COLUMBIA ENDOWMENTFISCAL YEAR 2018 YOUR

LASTING IMPACT

giving.columbia.edu

COMMITTED TO ACTION

investments in people. Endowment gifts ensure that we are growing

in ways beyond just buildings and campuses, that we are not only an

institution, but a global community sharing a commitment to do more

for our students and the world.

Gifts to Columbia’s endowment support some of the world’s most

talented students and faculty, energized by the promise of a Columbia

that is building for the future. Architect Renzo Piano has said of

Manhattanville, “This is not like the campus of earlier centuries…it

is a new story.” The University’s endowment donors are helping to

write that next chapter.

Sincerely,

Amelia J. Alverson

Executive Vice President for University Development

and Alumni Relations

“BY DEVELOPING OUR CAMPUSES, FOSTERING INNOVATIVE PROGRAMS, AND EXPANDING OUR PRESENCE AROUND THE GLOBE, COLUMBIA HAS SET THE STAGE FOR GREATER IMPACT.”

With a reported investment return of nine percent for

the 2018 fiscal year, the value of Columbia University’s

endowment has reached a record $10.9 billion. Such

sustained growth in the endowment allows the University to

build out its leadership, from discoveries in the classroom and the

laboratory to breakthrough projects taking on some of the world’s

most urgent and complex challenges. That leadership is made

possible by the University’s endowment donors, and we thank you

again for your lasting impact.

This fall we opened The Forum, a gleaming conference center that

completes the first set of three buildings on our new Manhattanville

campus, all designed by Renzo Piano. With a 437-seat auditorium

and open design, it is our first-ever building dedicated to academic

conference and public discussion. Like the entire new campus, with

its through streets and public spaces, it is designed to connect to

the city and world around us, and to foster ideas that lead to action.

It’s in the very name. As President Lee C. Bollinger remarked at the

opening, “a forum also indicates the making of decisions, the making

of choices, and a commitment to action.”

The Forum houses Columbia World Projects, a new institution

applying the University’s research knowledge through creative

partnerships to address problems on a scale of years, not decades.

Columbia World Projects and The Forum are also home to The

Obama Foundation Scholars at Columbia University, whose

inaugural cohort arrived this fall to further their skills as leaders

already transforming their societies around the globe.

In recent decades, Columbia has been able to build new structures,

whether physical or organizational, to carry our mission forward.

That progress is in no small part thanks to the generosity and vision

of philanthropic partners. By developing our campuses, fostering

innovative programs, and expanding our presence around the globe,

Columbia has set the stage for greater impact. But, as the stories in

this report reflect, we have also grown in less visible ways. Because

of the generosity of endowment donors, we can make critical

JEANNETTE M. WING, PHDAVANESSIANS DIRECTOR OF THE DATA SCIENCE INSTITUTE AND PROFESSOR OF COMPUTER SCIENCE

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While pursuing a degree in electrical engineering

at MIT in the 1970s, Jeannette Wing got her first

exposure to the then-young field of computer

science. “It just blew me away,” she recalls, “specifically lambda

calculus, which I found beautiful and elegant and appealed to my

mathematical sensibilities.”

Before switching her major, though, she called her father, at the

time a professor of electrical engineering at Columbia. “I wanted

his take on whether computer science was just a fad,” she says. “He

assured me it was not, so I went with it and never looked back.”

After earning her

bachelor’s, master’s,

and doctoral degrees

in computer science

from MIT, Wing taught

at Carnegie Mellon

University and served

twice as head of its

renowned computer

science department.

Her influential 2006

essay, “Computational Thinking,” helped breathe new life into the

field. She later held executive positions at the National Science

Foundation and Microsoft Research, where she became known for

embracing bold ideas.

Wing now serves as the inaugural Avanessians Director

of the Data Science Institute and Professor of Computer

Science at Columbia. Established in 2017 with a gift from Armen

A. Avanessians, a 1983 Fu Foundation School of Engineering and

Applied Science graduate and current University Trustee, and

his wife Janette, the directorship represents what Wing sees as a

once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to help define a new academic field.

Central to that effort is the philosophy of “Data for Good.”

“At Columbia, we are harnessing the power of data science to

transform all disciplines, drive exploration, provide insights, and

make predictions to inform better decisions,” says Wing. “‘Data

for Good’ means using that power responsibly and ethically to

tackle society’s greatest challenges.” She believes that, as a full-

fledged university with excellence in all fields, disciplines, and

professions, Columbia is ideally positioned to lead and promote this

transformation.

Wing is also a strong advocate of multidisciplinary, collaborative

research. To this end, she is drawing on more than 300 affiliated

faculty in 12 schools at Columbia to expand the Data Science

Institute’s impact on research and education, from precision

medicine and public policy to the humanities and the arts. “By

working together and across disciplines, we can aspire to achieve

more than we can by working alone,” she says.

As an example, she cites a group of faculty from several schools

that she has organized to

work on what she calls

“trustworthy artificial

intelligence.” She explains:

“The question is, can

we build tools that can

automatically determine

whether a model that

has been produced by a

machine-learned algorithm

is fair or not. This would

involve new verification techniques, new specification languages,

and even formally defining what a given notion of fairness is.”

These are the sorts of challenging, nuanced problems Wing

believes only an institution like Columbia is prepared to tackle.

“In many ways, data science is where computer science was in the

1970s,” she says. “Fortunately, Columbia has been developing a

foundation for years and has a head start in defining this new field.”

As a teenager, Wing once asked her father to explain to her what

engineering is. He told her that it is applying mathematics to solve

real-world problems. That answer, which first sparked her interest

decades ago, remains central to the value system that drives her

work to this day.

“I am a hopeless academic at heart,” says Wing. “Discovering new

knowledge, teaching the next generation of scholars and leaders,

doing things that impact society and our communities, while having

the freedom to pursue big ideas—it’s exciting. It’s like being an

entrepreneur all the time.”

COMMITTED TO TRANSFORMATION

“THE EMERGING FIELD OF DATA SCIENCE HAS THE POTENTIAL TO TRANSFORM ALL FIELDS OF INQUIRY. WE ARE PROUD TO ADVANCE THIS INITIATIVE AT COLUMBIA BY SUPPORTING JEANNETTE’S LEADERSHIP.”—ARMEN A. AVANESSIANS

COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT COMPANY (IMC)

The Columbia Investment Management Company (IMC)

is a wholly owned subsidiary of Columbia University. The

IMC is charged with managing the bulk of the University’s

endowment, known as Managed Assets. Managed Assets do not

include the University’s real estate holdings, certain charitable giving

vehicles, or a variety of other gifts that have investment restrictions.

The IMC is governed by a Board consisting of University

Trustees, non-Trustee members, the President of the University,

the Executive Vice President for Finance and Information

Technology, and the CEO of the IMC. Both Trustee and non-

Trustee members are highly distinguished professionals from a

variety of financial backgrounds, including various investment

management arenas, Wall Street, and the corporate sector. On a

day-to-day basis, the IMC is run by its management team, headed

by the IMC CEO.

The goal of the IMC is to generate attractive long-term risk-

adjusted returns, subject to the risk and return objectives of the

University. The IMC’s approach is long term and not based upon

quarterly or even annual market movements. Therefore, while

the IMC actively manages and evaluates investment strategy and

performance on an ongoing basis, meaningful evaluation of its

performance and efforts can be made only on a multiyear basis.

The IMC believes that such an approach is the most reliable

manner of generating strong long-term risk-adjusted returns.

Andrew Barth ’83CC, ’85BUS—Chair, University Trustee

Mark T. Gallogly ’86BUS—Vice Chair, University Trustee

Mark E. Kingdon ’71CC—University Trustee Emeritus

Jonathan Lavine ’88CC—University Trustee

Larry Lawrence ’69GS, ’71BUS

Alexander Navab ’87CC—University Trustee

Shaiza Rizavi ’96BUS

V-Nee Yeh ’84LAW

Lee C. Bollinger ’71LAW—President of the University*

Anne Sullivan—Executive Vice President for Finance and Information Technology of the University**

Peter Holland—CEO of Columbia IMC**

CURRENT IMC BOARD

*ex officio**ex officio and nonvoting

4

Columbia manages almost 100 percent of its endowment

assets through one commingled pool. This pool is

governed by investment policies approved by the Board of

the Columbia Investment Management Company (see “Columbia

Investment Management Company” opposite). Some 5,500

individual Columbia endowment funds (except those required by

law or donor restriction to be maintained separately) are invested

by unit and shared in one aggregated body of funds. This enables

the University to take advantage of different investment styles

and vehicles to provide a higher total return over time while

maintaining an acceptable level of risk. In sum, pooling these

funds together spreads the benefits of asset diversification among

all appropriate endowment funds.

The income distributed for programmatic spending from

endowment funds is determined by multiplying a lagged market

value by the annual spending rate established by the Trustees

of the University. In Fiscal Year 2018, the actual distributions

from the endowment for ongoing operations, excluding internal

management fees, were $503.5 million, effectively 5.5% of Fiscal

Year 2018 beginning market value.

For more information relating to the University’s

spending policies, please contact the Office of Strategic Donor

Relations and Stewardship at [email protected].

MANAGING COLUMBIA’S ENDOWMENTHOW IS IT DONE?

Unrestricted endowments allow the University flexibility to address the most pressing challenges and opportunities as they arise. Multipurpose/Other endowments include, among many other priorities, funds for University libraries, prizes, and centers.

Over the past ten years, steady investment performance has helped Columbia’s endowment continue to grow and has ensured the University is well positioned to withstand economic downturns.

DISTRIBUTIONS FROM THE ENDOWMENT

FACULTY AND RESEARCH

STUDENT SUPPORT

UNRESTRICTED

25% 30%

24% 21%

MULTIPURPOSE/OTHER

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LONG-TERM ENDOWMENT GROWTH(MARKET VALUE AS OF JUNE 30)

2018

5

6

JELANI COBB, PHDIRA A. LIPMAN PROFESSOR OF JOURNALISM

7

COMMITTED TO DEMOCRACY

“QUESTIONS OF RACE AND CIVIL RIGHTS ARE DEAD CENTER IN AMERICAN SOCIETY RIGHT NOW. JOURNALISM PLAYS A KEY ROLE IN SPARKING OUR MORAL CONSCIOUSNESS AND GIVING US THE INFORMATION WE NEED TO DETERMINE HOW OUR DEMOCRACY SHOULD FUNCTION.” —JELANI COBB

Growing up in south Queens, Jelani Cobb knew well the

stories of his parents, both of whom had fled the racism

of the Jim Crow South. They taught him to engage with

ideas and to be diligent about the world around him.

“One of the things my family did for fun was debate,” he recalls.

“The way some families might enjoy hiking or playing board games,

we delighted in argumentation.” Cobb remembers fondly how his

mother would gather the family around the television to watch 60

Minutes and how he shared her

appreciation for Mike Wallace’s

tough interviewing style.

As Cobb began to learn more

about history, he says it was

like a floodlight switched on,

illuminating the connections

between past and present—the

Great Migration that brought

his parents to New York, the

changes in immigration law that

had shaped the character of his

neighborhood, the battles around

education, and the development

of middle-class communities to

which African Americans are still

trying to gain access.

“History held this explanatory power about my own life,”

Cobb says. “I’ve never stopped being fascinated by it.” That

fascination comes through in his journalistic writing for The

New Yorker, where he covers race, politics, and culture. It also

animates his teaching as the inaugural Ira A. Lipman Professor

of Journalism at Columbia, a position created in 2010 through a

gift from Ira A. Lipman, a philanthropist and founder of one of the

world’s most esteemed security services firms, Guardsmark. The

professorship has allowed Cobb to do exactly the kind of work he

has always wanted to do.

“We have this dismissiveness in our society around questions

of race,” Cobb says. “The general disposition is to ‘just be done

with it.’ In other fields, if we want to be done with something—like

recessions or disease, for instance—we actually recognize that

the phenomenon exists and work to understand it.” To this end,

Cobb encourages his students and readers to confront America’s

shortcomings and to address them.

In the classroom, that means bringing social science tools to a

new generation of journalists. “I tell my students, if you’re reporting

on Congress, you need to know the ins and outs of the Senate

rules,” he says. “If you’re writing about the economy, you need to

understand all the variables that go into the GDP. So if your subject

involves race or civil rights, you need to approach it with that same

sort of clarity and rigor.”

In conjunction with his

teaching, Cobb also serves as

director of the Ira A. Lipman

Center for Journalism and

Civil and Human Rights,

established in 2017 through

an additional gift from Ira

A. Lipman to support the

vital role of journalism in

democracy. “It’s an exciting

time to be doing this work,”

says Cobb. “Questions of race

and civil rights are dead center

in American society right now.

They always have been, of

course, but I think we’ve had the luxury of ignoring them in other

times that we don’t have today.”

The urgency, says Cobb, stems from the current polarization in

American politics and from the increasing tendency of people to

believe only the news they agree with. At the same time, the issues

arising around civil and human rights are closely connected to

the struggles that defined much of the 20th century. “Journalism

is one of the most crucial bulwarks of American democracy right

now,” he says. “We’ve never had a more pressing need for keen

minds working in the service of an informed public.”

Cobb says he is most gratified by seeing his students take what

they learn at Columbia and move into their professions. “We get to

teach some really talented journalists, people whose reporting will

help inform discussions and decisions about the kind of society we

want to have,” he says. “It’s a responsibility that they and we can

never take lightly.”

JELANI COBB, PHDIRA A. LIPMAN PROFESSOR OF JOURNALISM

8

ANGELA M. CHRISTIANO, PHDRICHARD AND MILDRED RHODEBECK PROFESSOR OF DERMATOLOGY AND GENETICS AND DEVELOPMENT

9

When Angela Christiano arrived at Columbia in 1995,

she had just completed her postdoctoral research

in dermatology and was looking for a new research

direction for her lab. Six months in, her hair began to fall out. The

diagnosis: alopecia areata, a genetic autoimmune skin disease that

damages hair follicles.

“At the time, there wasn’t much known about what caused

it,” says Christiano, now the Richard and Mildred Rhodebeck

Professor of Dermatology and Genetics and Development and

one of the world’s leading hair loss researchers. “I remember reeling

between panic and shock,

but as I read more about the

disease, I thought this might

just be the topic I’d been

looking for.”

She got to work, and in

2010 her team was the first to

identify the genes involved in

alopecia areata, a discovery

that also cleared up an

essential misconception about

the disease. Their research

showed that alopecia areata

shares few, if any, genes

with psoriasis or eczema, as

previously thought. Instead, it

is more closely related to Type

1 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, and celiac disease.

“That realignment in the understanding of the genetics

positioned alopecia areata within a group of diseases that had the

benefit of many years of research and drug development,” she says.

That meant a newly FDA-approved drug for rheumatoid arthritis

could be tested quickly in mice and then in human patients with

alopecia areata. In human open label studies, the drug led to

significant hair growth in around 65 percent of patients.

“The success of these studies created a lot of excitement and

awareness both in the pharmaceutical industry and the patient

community,” says Christiano. “Hopefully, we’ll see drugs approved

for this disease in the next three to five years.”

Building on their discoveries, Christiano and colleagues

wondered whether the lessons they were learning about

autoimmunity might also have relevance to other diseases such as

cancer. “Cancer is very good at keeping immune cells out,” she says.

“In autoimmune diseases, the opposite is the case—immune cells

are recruited into organs where they then do damage.”

Christiano and researchers from the Columbia University

Irving Medical Center were able to harness a gene that recruits

immune cells into the hair follicle in alopecia areata and put it into

melanoma cells. The results were promising. “By turning that gene

back on, we were able to make the cancer vulnerable to the immune

response,” she says, “and that in turn improved the benefit of cancer

immunotherapy in mouse

models of cancer.”

Collaborative, groundbreaking

research like this exemplifies

Columbia’s Precision Medicine

Initiative, the goal of which

is to spur development of

individualized, targeted, and

more effective therapies for a

wide range of diseases.

This research is still quite

personal for Christiano.

“Studying a disease that I suffer

from firsthand certainly keeps

me focused,” she says, “but what

really motivates me now is what

I hear from other patients—

people who can stop wearing a wig for the first time in twenty

years, or have hair on their wedding day, or feel confident at a job

interview. This is life changing for them.”

The first in her family to go to college and graduate school,

Christiano adds that she was drawn to Columbia because of the

opportunity to work with and mentor students in science and

medicine, particularly young women.

“There is still a scarcity of senior women in science,” she says. “I

had an early experience in high school working in a research lab,

and it changed my life. So it’s incumbent on those of us in senior

roles to reach back and help the next generation come forward. You

never know when you’re going to light a fire in someone that’s going

to last a lifetime.”

COMMITTED TO DISCOVERY

“AT THE BEGINNING, RESEARCHING A DISEASE IS OFTEN ABOUT FINDING THE RIGHT QUESTIONS TO ASK. GIFTS THAT ALLOW FOR THE FREEDOM TO DO THIS KIND OF EXPLORATORY WORK—DEVELOPING AND TESTING NEW HYPOTHESES—CAN OPEN THE DOOR TO THE MOST REVOLUTIONARY DISCOVERIES.” —ANGELA M. CHRISTIANO

Scholarships, Fellowships, and InternshipsEndowments strengthen our ability to attract and retain

the most talented students, regardless of their ability to pay.

Endowed financial support enables Columbia to educate one of

the most diverse and selective student bodies among our peers.

ProfessorshipsEndowed professorships are a powerful vehicle to recognize and

invest in groundbreaking research, exemplary teaching, and faculty

leadership, as well as recruit and retain preeminent scholars.

Institutes, Centers, and ProgramsColumbia’s institutes, centers, and programs foster

environments that encourage new areas for interdisciplinary

thinking and collaboration and advance innovative research

and teaching. Endowed program funds provide ongoing support

that allows our faculty, across a range of disciplines, to combine

their unique expertise to tackle some of the world’s most

pressing challenges.

Visiting Scholars and Lectureships These endowments create opportunities for the University to

bring leading scholars and public figures to campus to foster

innovative collaboration, further cutting-edge research, enrich

the educational experience for students, and enhance the

expertise of our faculty.

Unrestricted EndowmentsEndowments designated to support the general purposes of the

University enhance our agility in addressing top priorities and

responding to emerging opportunities in curriculum, research,

global engagement, and the student experience.

TYPES OF ENDOWMENTFUNDS

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ENDOWMENT FUND PERFORMANCE FISCAL YEAR 2018 (JULY 1, 2017–JUNE 30, 2018)

Over the past ten completed fiscal years, the IMC

has generated an annualized net return of 8.0%

(after outside manager fees) on the managed assets

component of the endowment. This compares to a ten-year

annualized return of the MSCI All Country World Equity Index

of 5.8% and 3.7% for the Barclays Aggregate Bond Index.

For the five-year period ending June 30, 2018, the total

annualized net return (after manager fees) on the managed

assets component of the endowment was 9.2%. This compares

to an annualized 9.4% return for the MSCI All Country World

Equity Index and 2.3% for the Barclays Aggregate Bond Index

over the same period. For the one-year period ending June 30,

2018, the total net return (after manager fees) on the managed

assets component of the endowment was 9.0%. This compares

to a 10.7% return for the MSCI All Country World Equity Index

and -0.4% for the Barclays Aggregate Bond Index during the

same period. The value of the endowment is affected by returns,

spending, and donations. As of June 30, 2018, the value of the

endowment stood at $10.9 billion.

The asset allocation as of June 30, 2018, for the managed assets

component was: global equities, 23%; private equity, 19%;

absolute return strategy funds, 34%; real assets, 19%; fixed

income, 3%, and cash, 2%.

11

COACH AL BAGNOLIPATRICIA AND SHEPARD ALEXANDER HEAD COACH OF FOOTBALL

13

Winning is not about any one big thing, but a

combination of little things. This is the philosophy

of Al Bagnoli, Patricia and Shepard Alexander

Head Coach of Football at Columbia. So when he took the reins

of the Lions in 2015, he started chipping away at the little things.

The results have been astounding.

His first season, the Lions broke a 23-game losing streak. The

next season, they won three of ten games. In 2017, they won

eight of ten, tying for second

place in the Ivy League. To put

this success in context, in the

four seasons prior to Bagnoli’s

arrival, the team had won a total

of only four games.

“It’s been a whirlwind,” says

Bagnoli, who was named Ivy

League Coach of the Year in

2017. “We’ll continue to be a

work in progress, but I think

people can see the strides we’ve made from lots of different

perspectives—win-loss record, player retention, recruitment,

alumni involvement.”

To understand what has gone into this transformation, one

has to look at those “little” things. Take recruitment: Bagnoli

has made sure that everyone on his staff understands the

academic performance, financial aid, and the personal habits

and characteristics that make a student a good fit for both the

University and the team. “We’re looking for young men who

want to compete and get better,” he says. “I have so much

respect for what they have to accomplish even to be accepted to

Columbia, and then once they get here, all they have to do to be

successful in the classroom and on the field. Our job is to help

them grow into their potential.”

Of course, there are some not-so-little things as well that

have helped Bagnoli focus on revamping the program. One of

those is his endowed head coachship, the first-ever endowed

position in Columbia Athletics. The endowed position was

made possible by loyal Lions fans Shepard ’21CC and Patricia

Alexander, who included Columbia Athletics in their estate

plans. During their lifetime, the Alexanders were honored

by the University as members of the 1754 Society, which

recognizes generous donors who support Columbia through

planned gifts. The endowed position their bequest made

possible is a step toward staying competitive with peer athletic

departments, where such support is the norm.

Then there is Bagnoli

himself and his drive to teach

and compete. Before coming

to Columbia, he served for

23 years as head football

coach at the University of

Pennsylvania, where he

guided that program to nine

Ivy League titles. He then

moved into an administrative

role, where he lasted, by his

count, exactly 92 days. He says stepping away from coaching

rekindled his appreciation for the competition and conflict,

the highs and lows, and for what it means to represent a great

institution on the field.

“I don’t take the opportunity to coach for granted,” he says.

“There are so many impressive players and such creativity in this

league, and it’s better now than it has ever been.”

Now with more than 250 career wins under his belt, Bagnoli

can reflect on his career from a vantage point few others ever

attain. “I was fortunate to start my head coaching career early,”

he says. “Coincidentally, the athletic director who gave me my

first head coaching opportunity at the tender age of 28 was a

Columbia graduate, so I owe a lot to this tradition.”

On that note, and with a game to prepare for, Bagnoli turns his

attention to the task at hand. “Fans get to enjoy things a lot longer,”

he says. “Coaches don’t have that luxury. We always have to worry

about the upcoming opponent and keeping our players focused.

No matter what, you’ve got to be ready for what lies ahead.”

COMMITTED TO RESULTS

“THE IVY LEAGUE, COLUMBIA, AND OUR STUDENT-ATHLETES REPRESENT TO ME THE VERY BEST OF COLLEGE ATHLETICS. TO BE PART OF THAT KIND OF EXCELLENCE HAS BEEN TREMENDOUSLY GRATIFYING.” —AL BAGNOLI

14

JACINTA JAMES ’19BUSLEON G. COOPERMAN SCHOLAR

“TOBY AND I ARE COMMITTED TO HELPING STUDENTS GET A GREAT EDUCATION SO THEY CAN DO WHAT THEY LOVE. WE HOPE OUR GIFTS INSPIRE GENEROSITY IN OTHERS AS WELL.” —LEON G. COOPERMAN

15

Jacinta James ’19BUS grew up in the Bronx, a daughter of

immigrants. Her father worked construction; her mother,

nights, as a nursing assistant, sacrificing sleep to be

available for her children during the day. They were intent on

giving her and her brother opportunities that they themselves

never had—piano, swimming, track and field. Keeping their

children focused on school and activities had the added benefit

of keeping them out of trouble.

Few of James’s childhood

friends went on to college, yet

for her, attending was never a

question. She was driven and

wanted to make her parents

proud. Her mother insisted

she go into medicine, but after

taking freshman biology, James

switched her major to finance.

To make ends meet, she worked

any job she could, even staying

on campus during the summers to drive the campus shuttle bus

while her friends were in the city doing internships and building

their networks.

Graduating at the depth of the financial crisis, James was

relieved to get a few job offers. She chose a job in advisory

consulting, which offered the security and clear path her parents

valued so highly. For four years, she worked across multiple

industries, traveled extensively, and rose through the ranks. Still,

something was missing.

“I longed to be in an industry I was passionate about,” she says,

“to one day help lead a large brand or possibly create something of

my own.” So she followed her heart to the retail apparel industry,

and a few years later, to Columbia Business School.

Pursuing an MBA when she did took courage, as did committing

to Columbia by applying for early decision. “I was supporting

myself, and my parents were approaching retirement,” she says.

“Columbia was exactly where I wanted to be, but I knew that

without scholarships, I simply wouldn’t be able to go. It was a

huge leap of faith.”

Ultimately, she received the funding she needed, including the

Leon G. Cooperman Scholarship. Established with a gift from

Leon ’67BUS and Toby Cooperman in 2000, this award supports

Columbia Business School students who attended New York City

public schools. Leon is founder, chairman, and CEO of Omega

Advisors and a member of Columbia Business School’s Board

of Overseers. In 2007, the couple also established the Leon G.

Cooperman ’67 Scholarship Challenge to incentivize others

to make scholarship gifts, leading to the creation of 40 new,

endowed scholarships.

“To have people who came

from the same environment, who

know the strife and the journey,

support my education has meant

a lot to me,” she says. “They have

given back so that I can be an

example to others.”

For years, James has welcomed

the chance to be that example,

dedicated to the idea of “lifting

as you climb.” At Columbia, she

is active in the Black Business Students Association and other

student-led groups, and she serves as both a career fellow and

peer adviser, helping guide and support first-year students.

At the same time, she remains focused on her goals. One

semester, she interned at a startup that creates footwear for

women of color, an experience she says helped her better

understand both the startup world and the importance of

delivering products people really need and want. This past

summer, she interned at Nike, which she says was a perfect fit,

given her lifelong interest in sports and business. She recently

accepted an offer to work there full time after graduation.

While James was at Nike for the summer, her mother flew

out to Oregon for a visit. As they walked the company’s campus

together, James could sense her mother’s pride. “My mom has this

stoic Caribbean nature, so she’s not going to say it,” she says, “but

I can tell there’s no doubt in her mind about where I can go. I am

so grateful for the sacrifices she and my dad made, and glad I can

show them now that their hard work has paid off.”

COMMITTED TO OPPORTUNITY

COMMITTED TO ACTION

investments in people. Endowment gifts ensure that we are growing

in ways beyond just buildings and campuses, that we are not only an

institution, but a global community sharing a commitment to do more

for our students and the world.

Gifts to Columbia’s endowment support some of the world’s most

talented students and faculty, energized by the promise of a Columbia

that is building for the future. Architect Renzo Piano has said of

Manhattanville, “This is not like the campus of earlier centuries…it

is a new story.” The University’s endowment donors are helping to

write that next chapter.

Sincerely,

Amelia J. Alverson

Executive Vice President for University Development

and Alumni Relations

“BY DEVELOPING OUR CAMPUSES, FOSTERING INNOVATIVE PROGRAMS, AND EXPANDING OUR PRESENCE AROUND THE GLOBE, COLUMBIA HAS SET THE STAGE FOR GREATER IMPACT.”

With a reported investment return of nine percent for

the 2018 fiscal year, the value of Columbia University’s

endowment has reached a record $10.9 billion. Such

sustained growth in the endowment allows the University to

build out its leadership, from discoveries in the classroom and the

laboratory to breakthrough projects taking on some of the world’s

most urgent and complex challenges. That leadership is made

possible by the University’s endowment donors, and we thank you

again for your lasting impact.

This fall we opened The Forum, a gleaming conference center that

completes the first set of three buildings on our new Manhattanville

campus, all designed by Renzo Piano. With a 437-seat auditorium

and open design, it is our first-ever building dedicated to academic

conference and public discussion. Like the entire new campus, with

its through streets and public spaces, it is designed to connect to

the city and world around us, and to foster ideas that lead to action.

It’s in the very name. As President Lee C. Bollinger remarked at the

opening, “a forum also indicates the making of decisions, the making

of choices, and a commitment to action.”

The Forum houses Columbia World Projects, a new institution

applying the University’s research knowledge through creative

partnerships to address problems on a scale of years, not decades.

Columbia World Projects and The Forum are also home to The

Obama Foundation Scholars at Columbia University, whose

inaugural cohort arrived this fall to further their skills as leaders

already transforming their societies around the globe.

In recent decades, Columbia has been able to build new structures,

whether physical or organizational, to carry our mission forward.

That progress is in no small part thanks to the generosity and vision

of philanthropic partners. By developing our campuses, fostering

innovative programs, and expanding our presence around the globe,

Columbia has set the stage for greater impact. But, as the stories in

this report reflect, we have also grown in less visible ways. Because

of the generosity of endowment donors, we can make critical

THE COLUMBIA ENDOWMENTFISCAL YEAR 2018 YOUR

LASTING IMPACT

giving.columbia.edu