President Phil Schubert said in the faculty and staff meeting on Wednesday that the university’s endowment passed $1 billion this summer, marking a milestone in the endowment’s growth.

The endowment distributes 4.5% each year to the university for use in operations and scholarships. Donations accumulated over the years make up the endowment, which the Abilene Christian Investment Management Company handles.

Joe Lee, the chief investment officer of ACIMCO, said that the endowment serves as a built-up safety net for the university. Although the yearly 4.5% disbursement contributes to the school’s operating budget, the majority of the money goes toward investments that grow the endowment for future use.

“There is no time horizon for where we start winding down the endowment,” Lee said. “An important concept is that the endowment should be made available and grow over time for the benefit of future generations of ACU students.”

Blair Schroeder, the vice president for advancement and external affairs, said that the endowment is like a savings account for the school that matures on specific dates.

“It’s not a reserve account or a pool of a bunch of money that the university gets to tap into whenever they want,” Schroeder said. “What it really is is it’s a permanently invested or designated funds by donors for a specific purpose, and the portion of the investment returns go to support the university.”

He said that the goal of the fund is to ensure that ACU education is accessible for future generations, by building up money now for later use.

Lee said that although reaching $1 billion is worth celebrating, the milestone mainly serves as a marker of the endowment’s progress.

“So I think it’s important to celebrate the milestone. I think it’s a really big achievement,” Lee said. “It puts us in a select group of private universities across the country that have $1 billion … so it provides the university a lot of benefits today and over the next 100 years.”

While ACIMCO manages the majority of the endowment, students manage around $5 million of it through the Student Trading and Research Fund. This fund is a chance for students interested in finance to gain experience investing real money.

One of the students involved with STAR is Aviel Guitzkow, a senior finance major from Frisco who has helped with the fund since his freshman year.

“It’s been nice to be able to actually contribute to [the endowment] as a student,” Aviel said. “Seeing that our student management fund isn’t just a meaningless number that goes up and down by day, but not only does it contribute to the overall school endowment, but then we get to see that in how it affects the lives of students.”

Schroeder said that because the majority of the endowment comes from gifts from donors, there is a pressure to ensure the funds are taken care of and used wisely.

“Every endowed scholarship or faculty position or program represents a donor who believes in what we’re doing here at ACU,” Schroeder said. “They’re willing to give not just of their time and their talent, but also of their treasure to invest permanently in our future.”