The case centers on Christ Church's Treasurer, James Lawrie, who is contemplating his options for investing a portion of the College's endowment in real estate. Approximately 1/3 of the total $690 million endowment was allocated towards real estate, much higher than the typical 4% allocation by his American counterparts. Differing from many US endowments, real estate has remained a vital part of the Christ Church endowment since its founding in the mid-16th century. The College began with significant real estate holdings originally received from Henry VIII, which seeded the College's endowment. In the early 1980s, real estate represented 70% of the endowment's holdings and from 2002-2015, Christ Church's direct investments returned c.10% annually. Lawrie contemplates the future role of real estate in the College's portfolio, assesses the performance of the "US Endowment Model" and compares Christ Church's performance against others as he weighs a variety of investment strategies including; redevelopment, land sales, specialist funds, pooling capital with the other Oxford Colleges, and taking on more debt considering the once-in-a-generational low interest rates.

Spreadsheet supplement for case 216023.

One of the University of Cambridge's Colleges evaluates different asset management options for its endowment fund. The King's College, one of the constituent colleges of the University of Cambridge in the UK, had most of its endowment invested in equity index funds. Its committee was to discuss whether they should overhaul their investment strategy. The college had three options. One was to invest in a new pooled fund created by the University, in which other colleges were also investing, another was to invest through a private multi-asset investment firm also used by other colleges, Partners Capital, or remain in index funds.