Oct. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Dartmouth College, the smallest school in the Ivy League, reported an investment decline of 20 percent for the fiscal year ended June 30, resulting in a loss of $50 million in annual operating revenue.

The endowment fell 23 percent to $2.8 billion after the investment loss, withdrawals of money and new gifts, the school in Hanover, New Hampshire, said today in statement from President Jim Yong Kim. The school doesn’t expect its endowment to return to its 2008 level of $3.66 billion “for quite some time,” Kim said.

Dartmouth’s investment loss is less than those reported by some other members of the Ivy League of eight private schools. Harvard University, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, had a 27 percent investment loss, and Yale University in New Haven Connecticut, reported a 25 percent decline. Dartmouth, which relied on its endowment for 32 percent of its annual operating revenue, announced budget cuts in February and will make additional savings, Kim said.

“We will reduce expenses,” Kim said in the letter. “This must be done thoughtfully. We will work collaboratively and creatively to arrive at innovative solutions. We will be called upon to make some difficult choices.”

Dartmouth has cut 162 of its 3,000 non-faculty jobs and frozen most salary increases for the current fiscal year. Kim didn’t specify any further cuts he will make.

To contact the reporter on this story: Oliver Staley in New York at ostaley@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: October 9, 2009 16:15 EDT