Top considerations for endowments and foundations 2025  

Endowments and foundations (E&F) are increasingly grappling with a converging set of sector and market risks that require thoughtful navigation. Central to this is answering a fundamental series of questions including:

• How should concentration risk be managed in global markets and are there opportunities to thoughtfully diversify?
• How should investors balance short-term liquidity needs against current and future allocations to private markets?
• How can long-term investment goals align with the organization’s values in a polarized world?

Our Themes and opportunities 2025 paper explores the forces playing out across portfolios over the next five years and beyond. Highlights include how institutional investors can prepare their portfolios to benefit from long-term opportunities while protecting capital from emerging risks. In recent years, investors have reacted to a number of surprises, including a global pandemic, heightened geopolitical tensions and the rise of AI. As the pressure from the shocks recedes, investors should consider how these events might affect their investments over the long term and how they can position portfolios to best achieve their goals.

In this paper, we address four top considerations that E&Fs should keep in mind coming into the new year: