Because "endowment" is a simply the non-profit term for "capital" in business. Harvard's endowment is invested in profitable business to raise money. It's a no

Because "endowment" is a simply the non-profit term for "capital" in business. Harvard's endowment is invested in profitable business to raise money. It's a non-profit so it doesn't pay out the profits. A profitable business invests its funds itself or returns them to the owner institutions, who chose whether to keep funding the business.