This week, the College launched a page on Bowdoin’s website including information on the endowment’s uses, management and goals.

According to the webpage, the endowment made up 51 percent of the College’s total operating budget for fiscal year 2024–2025. Forty-six percent of this distribution from the endowment went to financial aid, 22 percent went to instruction, 18 percent to general support, six percent to libraries and museums and eight percent to “other.”

“Most notably, endowment distributions consistently exceed what Bowdoin collects in tuition and fees, and underwrite the vast majority of the College’s financial aid budget,” the webpage reads.

The webpage also includes graphs of the endowment’s market value and spending draw over the past 20 fiscal years. The market value has grown from $700 million in 2006 to $2.9 billion in 2025. Endowment spending has also increased, from $21 million in 2005 to $125 million in 2025.

“The endowment has not just preserved but has grown purchasing power over the past twenty years, enabling Bowdoin to expand its ability to support the educational mission,” the webpage reads.

Over the past 20 years, the College has spent an average of five percent of the endowment’s value yearly, with this spending approved by the Board of Trustees. The webpage explains that because the endowment is designed to support long-term financial stability, drawing more from it during difficult times would limit future resources and be impractical under the endowment’s structure.

“The endowment is made up of more than 1,900 individual funds, most of them restricted by donors for specific purposes,” the webpage reads. “Even if more were drawn in a given year, they could not necessarily be directed to areas of immediate need.”

The webpage also addresses whether the College could divest from specific companies, saying it cannot because it invests entirely through third-party firms rather than directly in individual companies.

“The College cannot divest from individual companies that are part of a fund’s strategy; you are either invested in everything within these funds or nothing,” the webpage reads.

In an email to the Orient, Senior Vice President for Communications and Public Affairs Martin Mbugua explained that the Office of Communications and Public Affairs created the webpage in partnership with the investment office and other senior College officers.

“The website was developed to meet interest in how the endowment works by providing helpful information that reflects Bowdoin’s commitment to thoughtful stewardship of the fund in support of its educational mission and community,” Mbugua wrote.