University Investment Trust (endowment fund)

The University Investment Trust (endowment fund) is a permanent fund established to support specific purposes at the University of Manitoba. Each year, a portion of the investment return is used to support current year programs and therefore contributes to the quality of teaching, student accessibility, research, athletics, and public service at the university.

Each individual endowed account is pooled for investment purposes and tracked using unit accounting, similar to a mutual fund. The unitized pool is referred to as the University Investment Trust (“UIT”), and the use of a pooled fund concept ensures new gifts purchase units and receives a pro-rata share of earnings while existing account holders maintain their equitable ownership in the pool. The pooled fund concept also allows all endowment account holders to take advantage of the diversification benefits available to large institutional investors like the University of Manitoba.

The endowment is managed by the Trust Investment Committee (the Committee), which is an advisory committee to the Board of Governors, and as such makes recommendations on all matters related to the investment and distribution of endowment assets. Members of the Committee are appointed under the authority of the Board, and are accountable to the Board through the Finance Infrastructure Committee. The Committee establishes guidelines for investing assets and is responsible for hiring and reviewing investment managers. This includes establishing the investment mandates for each asset class and the review of performance for each mandate, as well as the overall portfolio, to ensure the goals and objectives of the endowment are being achieved.

The endowment fund is comprised primarily of gifts from donors to provide long-term funding for designated purposes. Donors generally specify a particular purpose for their gifts, creating endowments that fund student awards (40%), faculty and school support (30%), chairs and professorships (15%), research (5%), library support (3%) and various other areas (7%). The annual distributions from the endowment fund provide for this support, with $37.2 million being allocated for the current year ($35.5 million previous year), and a total of $173 million allocated over the past five years.

Governance

The Trust Investment Committee has general authority over the investment of the assets of the Trust and Endowment Funds. This includes the investments of the University Investment Trust (the “UIT”) and the Specific Trusts.  Members of the Trust Investment Committee are appointed under the authority of the Board of Governors. The Board’s power includes the power to ensure the investment of University money based on prudent person principles. The Finance Infrastructure Committee is a Board Committee established under the Board of Governors, and this Committee makes recommendations to the Board on the general investment policy and the management of University investments.

The Trust Investment Committee is accountable to the Board of Governors through the Finance Infrastructure Committee. The Chair of the Trust Investment Committee is Vice President (Administration), who also is a non-voting member of the Finance Infrastructure Committee.

Current membership of the Trust Investment Committee

University Staff and Members of the Board of Governors

• Naomi Andrew, Vice-President Administration, Chair

• Lynn Bailey, Director, Office of the Vice-President (External Relations)

• Michael Benarroch, President and Vice Chancellor

• Carla Buchanan, Director, Financial Reporting

• Robin Campbell, Director, Investments

• Shelley Hopkins, (Acting) CFO and Comptroller

• Lance McKinley, Treasurer 

• Shreeraj Patel, Board of Governors

Community Members

• Glenn Bunston, Director ALM & Investments, Manitoba Public Insurance
• Graeme Hay, CIO, Teachers’ Retirement Allowances Fund
• Elizabeth Marr, retired investment professional

 Resource Member (non-voting) 

• Jesse Paradis, Manager, Treasury 

Annualized investment performance

In $CAD, expressed as %

As of March 31, 2025

Asset mix and targets

As of March 31, 2025

As of March 31, 2025

The Specific Trust and Capital Trust Funds are funds that are invested outside of the UIT. The stated purpose of these funds have a shorter time frame, so concern is with the preservation of capital. Investments are in liquid, short duration cash and fixed income instruments. At the end of March 31, 2025, these funds had a market value of $118.7 million.

Managers