&gt; Sitting on money<p>Except the Harvard endowment isn&#x27;t &quot;sitting&quot; on it -- it&#x27;s not hidden in some extra-long twin mattress somewhere.  Harvard invests that money in a variety of places, including with a number of the large venture capital firms that make the Valley go round.  The VCs then hand that money to entrepreneurs, who make (sometimes) useful new products.  It works in part because Harvard has a 25+ year time horizon for its investments -- it can fund a startup today and not worry about liquidity for a decade.  Harvard&#x27;s bet is that in a decade, the next Uber will IPO and Harvard will get its funds back, plus a return.  As a nice side-effect, entrepreneurs get funded, companies get built, etc.<p>TL;DR: Investing is not &quot;sitting on&quot; money -- it funds other useful activities.