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Endowments and foundations: Investing with greater intent 

The Marsh Global Asset Owner Barometer 2026[1] reveals the strategic playbook for endowment and foundation investors, and how you can apply these insights to your portfolio in 2027.

Trade tensions, geopolitical conflict, and heavy sovereign borrowing have increased energy prices and the cost of capital. At the same time, the scale of investment in AI has intensified competition, reshaping the outlook for valuations, liquidity and risk concentration. 

In this context, endowment and foundation (E&F) investors are deploying capital with greater selectivity, reassessing concentration risks across hidden correlations, building infrastructure exposure, and protecting their portfolios while staying invested. We believe this requires a fundamental shift: from asset-class thinking to total-portfolio risk thinking.

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Endowments and foundations are focusing on four connected themes for 2027

Private markets exposure is nearly universal (91.7%), but approaches are evolving as asset classes and programs mature.

  • 40.0% are maintaining the pace or scale of their commitments with greater selectively
  • 21.7% increasing commitments across multiple private-market strategies 
  • 50.9% say valuations are the primary factor shaping deployment decisions

Infrastructure is at the forefront of allocation plans, helping to provide exposure to long-duration real assets, structural growth themes, and protection against secular transitions (energy, digital).

  • 40.7% plan to increase allocations to infrastructure in the next 12 months
  • 40.7% are increasing private equity allocations and 23.7% are increasing private debt
  • 35% consider the energy transition critical in the next 12 month

E&F investors are discovering that allocations intended to broaden exposure may sometimes increase sensitivity to the same themes already present elsewhere in their portfolios (i.e. AI, semiconductors, infrastructure).

  • 31.7% of E&Fs have made adjustments to the regional composition of their portfolio over the past years
  • 33.9% plan to trim allocations to US equities in the next 12 months
  • 37.3% plan to increase allocations to global equities
  • 40.7% intend to increase exposure to emerging market equities

E&F investors are using a range of tools and overlays to strengthen portfolio protection and adjust the ways in which risk plays out across the portfolio.

  • 40% reduced risk exposure over the past 12 months
  • 28.3% shortened fixed-income duration
  • 40% increased liquidity or cash holdings in the past 12 months

Investment considerations for endowments and foundations in 2027

Discover how endowment and foundation investors are implementing more intentional, resilient, investment approaches for 2027 and beyond.
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      [1] The Marsh Global Asset Owner Barometer 2026 study gathers the views of 430 global asset owners with over US$5 trillion in assets under management about portfolio decision-making and construction practices. 

      The sample includes an Institutional group (pension funds, insurers, sovereign wealth funds, endowments, and foundations) and a Wealth Management group (wealth managers, private banks, family offices). Investors were based in 25 different countries from EMEA (42%), Asia-Pacific (28%), and North America (30%). Of the 430 responses, 60 were endowments and foundations.

      The research was conducted via an online survey by CoreData Research from June to July 2026. It is important to recognize that survey results are subject to inherent limitations and uncertainties. The survey results may not capture all relevant factors or market conditions. It is important to note that respondents may have received a form of indirect compensation from CoreData Research to complete the survey, in the form of a voucher or charitable contribution of their choosing.

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