Endowment Value: $48.5 million (2021)

Hampshire College is a private liberal arts college located in Amherst, Massachusetts. The college's endowment, of which is 80% donor-restricted,is managed by the Trustees of Hampshire College.

Hampshire College was among the first colleges to adopt SRI policies in the 1970s, and it was the first to divest from South Africa to protest apartheid. In 2011, Hampshire began incorporating ESG principles into its investment strategy by adopting an investment policy that emphasized positive screening and active investment in companies that aligned with Hampshire’s mission. This new policy led Hampshire College to become the first college to divest from fossil fuels.

Hampshire College’s Policy on Environmental, Social, and Governance Investing acknowledges that because of the long-term risks certain business practices pose, consideration of ESG principles is part of the college’s fiduciary duties. Read the full policy here.

In January 2019, College President Miriam Nelson announced the College’s intention to find a long-term strategic partner to merge with and ensure a “thriving and sustainable future”, citing both financial and enrollment hardships as a small, under-endowed liberal arts college.

In 2020, Hampshire College was featured in the Intentional Endowment Network’s case study on ESG investing. The study revealed that schools employing ESG investing practices saw the same or better returns as schools employing a traditional approach to investing. Read the full study here.

Hampshire College is a participant or member of the following Initiatives & Commitments: 

• IEN Founding Member (2016)
• AASHE STARS: Yes, Gold
• ACUPCC: Yes, Carbon Neutral by 2032
• Billion Dollar Green Challenge: Yes
• CDP: No
• Committee for Investor Responsibility: No
• Divestment Goal: Yes
• INCR: No
• Montreal Carbon Pledge: No
• Sustainable Investment Fund: Yes, Sustainability Revolving Fund (SURF)
• Sustainable Investment Policy: Yes
• Principles for Responsible Investment: No

Other Sustainable Investing Practices and News:

• President’s Strategic Partnership Announcement  (January 2019) 
• Hampshire College Case Study (November 2017)
• Hampshire College Amends Investment Policy to Exclude Prison Industry (November 2015)
• How Hampshire Invests (April 2015)
• Hampshire Sustainability