University of Massachusetts Amherst
IN-24: Innovation A

In May 2016, the University of Massachusetts became the first major public university to divest its endowment from direct holdings in fossil fuels. The decision was made by a unanimous vote of the Board of Directors of the UMass Foundation, a separate not-for-profit corporation that oversees an endowment whose value was $770 million at the end of the last fiscal year. The decision followed a series of developments that signaled the University community’s desire to fight climate change. In 2015, the Foundation voted to divest from direct holdings in coal companies in response to a petition from the UMass Fossil Fuel Divestment Campaign, a student group. The UMass Board of Trustees later endorsed the Foundation’s decision and described climate change as “a serious threat to the planet". The UMass Foundation's adoption of this divestment position is among the most aggressive established for any major university—public or private—in the United States. The Foundation’s primary responsibility is a fiduciary one. Its primary mission is overseeing the endowment in an effort to maximize returns on funds donated for research, academic programs, financial aid and other purposes. That the UMass Foundation took this step reflects not just their comfort as fiduciaries but the seriousness with which they view climate change and sustainability issues.