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At the University of Wyoming Foundation, we deeply value your generosity and the confidence you place in us. We are committed to using your contributions responsibly, safeguarding your privacy, and providing transparent, honest communication about how your support makes a difference to Wyoming’s university.
Donor Bill of RightsAt the University of Wyoming Foundation, impact is more than a measure of outcomes—it's the heart of our mission and the promise of our collective purpose. It begins with people and is powered by partnership.
Our Taxpayer Identification Number (EIN) is 83-0201971.
For further information on our tax and legal status, click the button below.
We are committed to financial transparency and accountability. Our accounting information provides detailed insights into how your donations are managed, ensuring every dollar supports our mission effectively.
A copy of our Form 990 is available upon request.
When you create an endowed fund, you’re making a lasting difference for generations to come. Your generosity sets the stage for a brighter future at the University of Wyoming.
Endowments are like a forever gift—a solid foundation of assets that keeps on giving. Each year, these funds generate a steady stream of income to support the causes you care about most, from student scholarships to cutting-edge programs. This support goes beyond what the State of Wyoming provides, helping UW reach new heights of excellence.
Gifts from alumni, businesses, foundations, and friends like you come together in our endowment fund. Every year, the UW Foundation shares millions from this fund to fuel student success, empower faculty, enrich academic programs, and keep our campus thriving—think scholarships, library resources, new facilities, and more. Your endowment is a powerful way to make a lasting impact!
Thanks to our generous supporters, our endowment portfolio reached an impressive $833.5 million by June 30, 2024—getting us closer to the billion-dollar mark! In 2024, your endowed gifts fueled $28 million in support for the University of Wyoming. This funding powered scholarships, faculty, programs, and more, all from the endowment’s earnings. (That’s separate from other generous gifts used directly for immediate needs.) Your contributions are building a stronger UW every day!
The UW Foundation investment team continually evaluates asset allocation with special attention to the investment objectives and cash-flow needs of the endowment and the university. The liquidity profile of the pool remains strong in meeting the needs of UW for multiple years, even during turbulent markets. The UW Foundation investment team updates the allocation targets every year to help address an ever-changing financial landscape as the result of conversations between our Board of Directors and our consultant, Meketa.
Click below to learn more about how the UW Foundation proactively and effectively manages investments.
Portfolio Performance
Fiscal year 2024 marked significant strategic progress for the UW Foundation investment portfolio, particularly in enhancing income-driven returns. While our overall return of 7.7% did not meet the 9% cost of capital objective, we successfully increased the portfolio’s income yield to 2.4%, up from 1.5% in 2019, by building on the strategic shifts implemented in 2023. The 2.4% income yield represents 26.6% of our 9% cost of capital, which translates to greater stability of returns to support the University of Wyoming. Our goal in the coming year is to achieve a 3% run rate of contracted income in the endowment by employing the strategies described below while remaining within the fixed income policy allocation approved by the foundation’s board.
Opportunistic Credit and Private Debt
As capital allocators, we are always on the lookout for places where capital is moving to or in this case from. Opportunistic credit and private debt are key areas for institutions like ours to bridge the capital void left by banks exiting certain credit relationships due to increased regulatory burdens. We anticipate this opportunity will continue, if not intensify, as banks face ongoing capital constraints and adopt more conservative risk appetites in response to regulatory pressures. Opportunistic credit and private debt investments provide attractive yields with a high degree of income stability due to their contractual nature. By targeting senior secured loans, real estate lending, and specialty finance, our investment managers have been able to capture yields that significantly exceed current market interest rates.
Energy Infrastructure Investments
Another area where capital retreat has created an investment opportunity is fossil fuel energy infrastructure. While this may seem unrelated to emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, AI applications significantly increase energy consumption. For instance, AI-powered Google search queries use ten times more energy than traditional searches. McKinsey & Company estimates that the United States will need an additional 50 gigawatts of electricity by the end of the decade to accommodate this trend. Where will this power come from? The answer is that this power will have to come from every available energy source that currently feeds the electrical grid. As a picks-and-shovels approach, we have allocated public equity capital to natural gas transportation infrastructure. These midstream companies are a vital backbone of the energy economy and will benefit from increased energy demand in the United States.
Technology and Innovation
Alongside our focus on areas where capital is retreating, we are committed to directing investments toward sectors that drive growth and technological innovation. Our internal analysis indicates that leading technology firms—Microsoft, Apple, Nvidia, Amazon, Meta, and Alphabet—contributed half of the S&P 500’s returns this fiscal year. Investors drove this result because they believe that these companies can generate excess returns through the development and application of large language models and AI across various business sectors. Admittedly, our public equity portfolio managers did not have an oversized exposure to these large technology companies, which resulted in performance for our public equity allocation being less than we would like. However, we have benefited from the rise in AI, just not in the same manner as expressed by the leading public market indices. The coming year will require judgement and perhaps a bit of luck to position our public equity investments to better participate in transformative technological change while maintaining a conservative posture.
Asset Allocation Overview
Compared to last year, numbers show a slightly higher allocation to private debt (areas where capital is retreating) and a slightly higher allocation to real assets (areas benefiting from technological growth). The UW Foundation Investment Team—in collaboration with our board of directors and our consultant Meketa Investment Group—updates the allocation targets every year in response to an ever-changing financial landscape.
Future Outlook
In summary, we remain pragmatic in positioning fund investments within our allocation framework. Our focus remains on reducing complexity and fees while we continue to seek areas where capital is retreating or needed to fund future technological growth. We seek to earn greater than our cost of capital of 9%, to the ultimate benefit of the students at the University of Wyoming.
The University of Wyoming Foundation funds its operation through advancement fees and a small amount of direct university support.
The UW Foundation’s goals are to elevate the level of private gifts supporting the University of Wyoming and to continuously improve the strength of the university endowment. These advancement fees help cover direct operating costs related to fundraising, gift processing, stewarding, and investing private contributions, and to provide the resources necessary to encourage greater philanthropic support for UW students, faculty, and programs.
Effective July 1, 2021, the UW Foundation will assess a 1.25% advancement fee on all gifts and on all appropriate non-gifts (such as royalties, fundraisers, ticket event sales, etc.). Endowment funds are also assessed an annual fee of 1.25% (1.0% on funds provided by the State of Wyoming under its matching program) which is assessed quarterly based upon the market value of the funds.
Of the peer institutions with assets below $1 billion, more than 70 percent utilize a similar fee structure. In most cases, the UW Foundation fee is lower than its peer institutions.
The advancement fees do not affect the tax deductibility of charitable contributions. Donors will receive gift receipts for the full amount of their gifts.
Click below to download the UW Foundation Certificate of Exemption.
Cerificate of ExemptionThe University of Wyoming Foundation is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization soliciting tax-deductible private contributions for the benefit of the University of Wyoming. The foundation is registered to solicit charitable contributions with the appropriate governing authorities in all states requiring registration. A copy of the latest audited financial statement is available. Registration filed by this organization and a description of our programs and activities may be obtained by writing to 222 S 22nd Street, Laramie, WY 82070 or by calling (307) 766-6300.
If you are a resident of one of the following states, you may obtain financial information directly from the state agency.
Maryland:
The Office of the Secretary of State, 16 Francis St. #1, Annapolis, MD 21401.
New Jersey:
Information filed with the attorney general concerning this charitable solicitation and the percentage of contributions received by the charity during the last reporting period that were dedicated to the charitable purpose may be obtained from the attorney general of the state of New Jersey by calling (973) 504-6215 and is available on the internet at https://charportal.dca.njoag.gov/. Registration with the attorney general does not imply endorsement.
New York:
Attorney General Charities Bureau, 120 Broadway, 3rd Floor, New York, NY 10271.
Washington:
Secretary of State, (800) 332-4483 or https://www.sos.wa.gov/corporations-charities#nonprofits_charities.
Registration with a state agency does not constitute or imply endorsement, approval, or recommendation by that state.
