Thursday, January 29, 2009

Question: Brandeis financial management?

Brandeis says it is in deep financial trouble, mainly because its endowment took a hit in the market crash, falling (according to the Globe) from $712 million to $549 million. (Which still seems to be better off than it was at the start of 2005.)

And Brandeis says its usual donors can’t come to the rescue because they got hit in the market and/or suckered by Madoff.

So the school announces a plan to sell off its irreplaceable art collection, and what? Put the proceeds into its endowment and invest it in the market?

Related:
In this week's Phoenix, my commentary on Brandeis's Rose decision.

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

If the article from the Daily Beast is accurate (http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-01-28/did-bernie-bankrupt-brandeis/), they should have no trouble spending those millions immediately. They are 256 million in debt, projecting a 79 million dollar deficit over the next six years, and have nothing in the reserves that can be spent (capital campaign money is earmarked, endowment principal can't be touched, reserve fund will run out in 18 months). If the Rose was valued at 350 million in 2007, it will fetch far less today, so it might not even bring them into the black. They've bitten off more than they can chew, and they'd rather live off the Rose's coffers than scale back operations.

January 29, 2009 4:57 PM  

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