(Bloomberg) -- Yale University’s endowment returned 0.8% in the first year under Chief Investment Officer Matthew Mendelsohn, who took the reins after the death of predecessor David Swensen.

The fund earned $266 million in the period and was valued at $41.4 billion on June 30, “after $1.6 billion of spending distributions to the operating budget,” the Ivy League school in New Haven, Connecticut, said Tuesday on its website. The S&P 500 tumbled 12% in the same span.

“In such a volatile year for the world’s financial markets, we are pleased to have protected Yale’s capital,” Mendelsohn said in the statement. “That said, we expect challenging times ahead as rising interest rates, inflation, and the geopolitical environment provide stiff headwinds.”

The fund has returned 12% a year over the past decade, beating the mean 10-year return for college and university endowments by an estimated 3.4%, according to the statement.

Read more: Yale’s 36-Year-Old Endowment Chief Was Molded in Swensen Way

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