Feb. 12, 2010

For the seventh consecutive year, the Philip M. Dorr Alumni & Friends Endowed Investment Fund has provided a generous financial contribution to Baylor University's Athletic Department. A $130,000 gift from the fund will be presented to the Athletic Department at halftime of Saturday's 12:45 p.m. Baylor-Missouri men's basketball game at the Ferrell Center.

The fund, which continues to rank as one of the largest in the United States managed by students, has provided more than $1.1 million in support of scholarships for Baylor's 19-sport intercollegiate athletics program since its first gift to the department in 2004.

"We are grateful for the generous contribution from the Philip M. Dorr Alumni & Friends Endowed Investment Fund and its continued support of student-athlete scholarships," said director of Athletics Ian McCaw. "We are especially proud of Baylor's business student-athletes who are receiving an outstanding education while they compete in the sport that they love."

Established in 2001 with an endowment gift from alumnus Philip M. Dorr, the live equity portfolio is actively managed by select business students through a course led by Professors Brian Bruce and Brandon Troegle and operates from the state-of-the-art on-campus Southwest Securities Financial Markets Center. Through additional gifts and investments, the fund has a current market value of approximately $4.6 million. Distributions from the fund are directed toward athletic scholarships for Baylor student-athletes who are business majors in good academic standing and to MBA students with an interest in investment management.

Since the Fund's inception, the student-managed portfolio has beaten its benchmark, the S&P 500, on average by about 1.3% per year. Likewise, it has created over 11% more wealth than its benchmark. This outperformance has also been accomplished with lower risk (as measured by beta and standard deviation) than the S&P 500.

"Ours is one of the largest student-run investment funds in the nation," said Terry Maness, dean of the Hankamer School of Business. "It provides our students the opportunity to get hands-on experience and help support our business student athletes and MBA students at the same time."