USD Foundation & Alumni Association Reports Record Financial Results

The University of South Dakota Foundation & Alumni Association today reported record financial results for the year ended Dec. 31, 2025.

Key 2025 results include:

• Total assets of $406.3 million
• Revenue of $70.7 million
• $28.2 million in direct support provided to the University of South Dakota, including nearly $12.8 million in scholarships

"These record results reflect a strong organization built for long-term impact in partnership with our generous donors," said Noah Shepard, president and CEO of the USD Foundation & Alumni Association. "Disciplined fundraising, prudent investment management and responsible financial stewardship allow us to expand opportunities for students while strengthening the foundation's ability to serve the university well into the future."

Fundraising results also have been particularly strong in recent years. While the financial results reported here are for calendar year 2025, the Foundation tracks fundraising on a fiscal year basis. The Foundation recently announced fiscal year 2026 fundraising more than $53 million through nearly 8,000 gifts from approximately 4,200 donors. This marks the second consecutive year in which more than $50 million was raised.

The Foundation also managed an endowment to benefit the University of South Dakota.

Tom Gallagher, chair of the Foundation's Investment Committee, credited the Foundation's longstanding contrarian approach with supporting stable, impactful endowment growth.

"The Foundation prides itself on being good stewards of donors' money, both in how we spend it and how we invest it," Gallagher said. "For calendar year 2025, the endowment returned 13.6%. Endowments are inherently long-term investors, and we believe USD's interests are best served by a contrarian strategy—right now, that means a lower equity allocation given current valuations.

"That approach hasn't been easy in this environment, but it still placed us in the 54th percentile among all endowments in 2025, aided by contrarian bets like our overweight to international stocks. Over the last 25 years, this 'buy low, sell high' philosophy has put us in the top 3% of all foundations and added an estimated 1.77% per year to the endowment," Gallagher said.

Board Chair Lance Bultena said the record financial results will enable the Foundation to provide greater support for the University of South Dakota's mission both now and in the long term.

"Our board of directors recognizes the importance of trust," Bultena said. "Donors need to know we will be thoughtful stewards in our mission to support the university and its students."

An independent audit was performed by accounting firm Eide Bailly. The audit included an unmodified opinion and was approved by the Foundation's Board of Directors at its July 2026 meeting.

An unmodified opinion means the auditors concluded that the Foundation's financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, its financial position and results of operations in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles.

Audit Committee Chair Gary Fish said the annual audit is an important governance responsibility.

"An independent audit provides assurance that our financial statements are fairly stated, reflects our governance practices and meets the standards that our donors, alumni and university partners expect," Fish said. "Receiving an unmodified opinion reflects that the proper financial reporting and oversight processes are in place."