An alumnus of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, Jake Kagele is the managing director of NOVA Financial Services in Tucson, AZ. At the firm, Jake Kagele provides investment management services to high-net-worth individuals, trusts, companies, and endowments.

Endowments are unique investment vehicles that support educational institutions and nonprofits financially. Through them, donors can contribute to a professionally managed pool of funds structured to last indefinitely. The funds are typically invested in diverse markets, and some of the returns they generate are channeled to the institution or nonprofit to fund its current and long-term projects. For the donors, endowments provide several benefits. For example, their gifts last beyond their own lives, and they are assured their contributions are managed and used per their wishes.

The endowment model is very popular among US universities. About 351 national universities disclose their endowment figures to US News & World Report. As of the end of 2020, the average size of endowments from this group was $1.4 billion. The top five universities ranked by the size of their endowments were: Harvard University ($41.89 billion), Yale University ($31.1 billion), Stanford University ($28.98 billion), Princeton University ($25.94 billion), and MIT ($18.38 billion). Others in the top 10 were the University of Pennsylvania, Texas A&M University, and Columbia University. The average endowment size among the top 10 was $21 billion. By contrast, the average endowment size among the bottom 10 was about $10.7 million.