The University of Utah’s Directed Services Organization

What We Are

The University of Utah Growth Capital Partners Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit with a single mandate: support and advance the University of Utah.

We take on financial and commercial functions that benefit from the speed, confidentiality, and flexibility of a private-sector structure, a model often known as a directed services organization.

The vast majority of leading public research universities operate a variety of their activities through at least one independent foundation like ours. Until recently, the University of Utah was one of the few that did not.

Why This Structure Exists

The University of Utah is the flagship university for the state of Utah, one of the country's leading research institutions, and home to Utah’s only academic health system, serving patients across six Mountain West states. A primary objective of GCP is to attract and partner with private capital in ways that are difficult to accomplish within a public-sector entity.

GCP adds dedicated capacity for managing large-scale investments, executing complex transactions, attracting specialized talent, and expanding the University's access to new forms of capital, while keeping its academic, research, and healthcare missions at the center.

The model is working. In its first two years, GCP has taken on oversight responsibility for the University's endowment, including installing an outsourced investment office, launched a first-of-its-kind athletics commercial venture with a national operating partner, begun assembling a portfolio of strategic real estate in downtown Salt Lake City, and established several entities to further the University's ability to develop and commercialize technology that benefits the state of Utah.