Targeting Endowments

Last reviewed: 10 September 2026

A capital-introduction service connects a fund manager with an investor; it does not sell securities, and it does not diligence the manager on the investor's behalf. For an endowment audience specifically, that distinction matters more than usual, because an endowment's own OCIO or investment consultant already performs the diligence a manager might assume the introducer has done. Capital Mobilization is paid a flat monthly retainer by the manager — never a success fee, never a percentage of any commitment — and screens only for relevance and readiness to be introduced, not investment merit.

Educational content only — not investment, legal, tax, or compliance advice. See the full note at the end of this article.

If you are raising a private fund and endowments or foundations sit on your target list, you have probably searched some version of "what does a capital-introduction service do." Almost everything that comes back was written for a different reader entirely: hedge fund managers, prime brokerage desks, and the mechanics of matching a long/short manager with a fund-of-hedge-funds allocator. None of it addresses what you actually need to know — what an introducer does for a manager raising a private-markets vehicle from a university endowment, a foundation, or a similar institution, and, just as important, what it does not do.

This article answers that directly, in plain terms, for Capital Mobilization's own model.

What is a capital-introduction service, and how is it different for an endowment?

At its core, a capital-introduction service does one thing: it connects a fund manager with an investor. That is the entire activity. It is not a securities offering, it does not solicit a specific transaction on your behalf, and it is a fundamentally different activity from selling a fund — the introducer is not your distributor, and it does not stand between you and the allocator once a meeting happens.

For a manager targeting endowments and foundations, that distinction carries more weight than it does elsewhere, for a structural reason: most endowments of any size retain an outsourced chief investment officer (OCIO) or an investment consultant to do their manager diligence for them. A manager who assumes an introducer has already "vetted" them for that audience is assuming something the introducer's actual role does not include — and something the endowment's own process is built to do itself, separately, on its own terms. How that OCIO or consultant layer actually works, and what getting registered with one does and does not buy a manager, is a longer question this article does not try to answer; we cover it in a companion piece on the OCIO and investment-consultant layer.

What are the three ways a manager reaches an endowment through an intermediary?

Most of what a manager finds when researching this question collapses three genuinely different arrangements into one blur. It is worth separating them.

Prime-broker capital introduction. Offered by prime brokerage desks as a value-added service bundled with trading and custody relationships, this model is built for hedge funds and the allocators who invest in them. It is not designed for, and does not typically reach, a private-markets manager raising a closed-end vehicle from a university endowment.

Success-fee intermediaries, commonly called placement agents. This kind of intermediary is typically paid a retainer plus a success fee — a percentage of the capital it helps raise. That structure ties the intermediary's own economics to your closing, which shapes what it prioritizes regardless of fit.

Flat-retainer introducers. The third model, and the one Capital Mobilization is built on: a fixed monthly fee paid by the manager, unrelated to whether any introduction leads to a commitment. The introducer is paid the same amount whether an allocator says yes, no, or nothing at all.

What does Capital Mobilization actually charge?

Stated plainly, because most of what a manager finds on this question is vague by design: the manager pays a flat retainer of US$6,750 a month, on a quarterly cycle, with 30 days' notice to end the arrangement. There is no success fee, no percentage of any commitment, and no tail obligation after the relationship ends. The endowment or foundation on the receiving end pays nothing. Every introduction is sent personally, under a named principal's name, rather than through a mass distribution list.

What does "introduction" not mean?

This is the boundary that matters most, and it is worth stating once, cleanly, rather than leaving it implied.

Capital Mobilization screens a manager for relevance and readiness to be introduced — whether the strategy is legible, whether it plausibly fits what a given allocator has told us it is looking for, and whether that allocator has already declined this manager before. That is the entire screen. It does not verify track records. It does not conduct operational due diligence. It does not form a view on investment merit, and it does not get a manager onto an OCIO's or an investment consultant's approved list, or influence how that consultant rates a manager. An endowment's own OCIO or investment consultant performs that diligence, separately, on its own timeline — an introduction is not a substitute for it, and no introducer can shortcut it.

Managers who reach endowments and foundations directly typically pair a disciplined, manager-level introduction program with whatever OCIO or consultant relationships they already have. The two are not a substitute for each other, and a well-run introduction program does not compete with, or replace, the diligence relationship you build separately.

Which institutions has Capital Mobilization facilitated introductory meetings with?

These are institutions Capital Mobilization has facilitated introductory meetings with — real, dated relationships, not a preview of what a new manager customer will receive: Princeton University Investment Company (PRINCO), a flagship university endowment; Babson College Endowment, a smaller college endowment; the Rotary Foundation's Annual Fund, a non-university institutional example; Northwestern University Endowment, a second university example; and University of Cincinnati Endowment, the most recent of the five. All five are already public on capitalmobilization.com/limitedpartners.

Every mandate is different. The introductions any given manager receives depend on fit with that manager's own strategy and stage — not on this list, and not on the total number of institutions in Capital Mobilization's broader network, which this article does not state.

What five questions should you ask anyone who says they can introduce you to endowments?

Before you engage any intermediary claiming access to endowment or foundation allocators, ask:

1. Who pays you — the manager or the investor?
2. How are you paid — a flat retainer, a percentage of capital raised, or both?
3. Do you diligence the managers you introduce, or only screen for fit?
4. Can you get me past an OCIO's or a consultant's approved list?
5. If an allocator says no to my fund once, will you introduce us to them again later?

Capital Mobilization's answers to all five sit in the sections above: the manager pays; the fee is flat, never a percentage; the screen is for fit and readiness, not diligence; no introducer can get a manager past an OCIO's or consultant's approved list, and Capital Mobilization does not claim to; and a "no" from a given allocator about a given manager is not revisited with that manager again.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a capital-introduction service?
A capital-introduction service connects a fund manager with an investor. It is not a securities offering, does not solicit a specific transaction, and is a different activity from selling a fund. For a manager targeting endowments and foundations, most of what exists online under this term is written for hedge funds and prime brokerage — it does not address a private-markets manager's raise, and it does not name a flat-fee, manager-paid category at all.

How is a capital-introduction service different from a placement agent when the target is an endowment?
A placement agent is typically paid a retainer plus a success fee — a percentage of capital raised — which ties its compensation to your closing. Capital Mobilization is paid a flat monthly retainer of US$6,750 by the manager, with no success fee and no percentage of any commitment, regardless of whether an introduction leads to a commitment.

Does a capital introducer vet or diligence the managers it introduces to an endowment?
Capital Mobilization screens a manager for relevance and readiness to be introduced — whether the strategy is legible and plausibly fits what a given allocator has told us, and whether that allocator has already declined the manager. It does not verify track records, does not conduct operational due diligence, and does not form a view on investment merit. An endowment's own OCIO or investment consultant performs that diligence; an introduction is not a substitute for it.

Who pays for a capital-introduction service that reaches endowments — the manager or the investor?
The manager. Capital Mobilization is paid a flat monthly retainer by the fund manager; the endowment or foundation pays nothing and owes nothing for being introduced.

Can a capital-introduction service get my fund onto an OCIO's or consultant's approved list?
No. Capital Mobilization does not influence, and cannot bypass, an OCIO's or investment consultant's manager-approval process. An introduction builds the manager-owned relationship an allocator can act on once the fit is right — it does not substitute for, or shortcut, that allocator's own registration or approval process.

Educational content only. This article explains publicly available information about how endowment and foundation investment offices evaluate and select private-fund managers, for general information, current as of the "Last reviewed" date shown above. This article was researched and drafted with AI assistance, reviewed for accuracy before publication. It is not investment, legal, tax, or compliance advice, and nothing here recommends any allocation, consultant, program, or fund. Capital Mobilization is not a placement agent, broker-dealer, or investment adviser; we do not conduct due diligence on funds or managers on a manager's behalf, and we cannot influence or bypass any OCIO's or investment consultant's manager-approval process. We connect fund managers and institutional investors through relationship facilitation on a flat-fee retainer paid by the manager; there is no success fee and no percentage of any commitment.

Private Capital Development, a Benefit LLC, is a Maryland-based firm founded in 2018 that connects private capital fund managers with institutional allocators through personal, one-to-one introductions. Capital Mobilization is the name of its capital-introduction practice.

We do not get you past an OCIO's or consultant's approved list, and we do not diligence funds on a manager's behalf — we build the manager-owned relationship an allocator can act on once the fit is right. Would you like a meeting?