Wesleyan’s endowment rose to $967.2 million in the 2017 fiscal year, according to a recently released year-end letter on the University’s Investments website.

This 14.6 percent increase from $802.2 million only 12 months prior marks a historically significant increase. The figures account for the change in the endowment from June 30, 2016, to June 30, 2017.

Should the endowment have matched the performance of the S&P 500 index, it would have surpassed $1 billion already. However, whether or not the endowment has reached this mark is not yet clear.

While bull markets significantly contributed to the increase, the letter details other factors as well.

“The endowment received the transfer of approximately $45 million in operating reserves to be invested alongside the endowment; the source of the reserves was the issuance of a $250 million 100-year bond (‘Century Bond’),” the letter read. “The University also benefitted from over $40 million in gifts over the fiscal year.”

The $43.6 million amounts to the highest level of gifts in a fiscal year, according to the letter.

The University spent roughly $36.3 million from the returns on the endowment in fiscal 2017, the highest in the last five years.

Mason Mandell can be reached at mjmandell@wesleyan.edu or on Twitter @MasonMandell.