What is an endowment?
A school’s endowment is its savings account. A large endowment, well invested, means that a school is guaranteed another source of income beyond tuition and annual gifts. Such an endowment provides long-term financial stability for a school, ensuring that it has the resources to plan and develop for the future.
An endowment at the SIUE Foundation preserves the principal while providing income for a program account as specified by the donor. An endowment may be established at any level above the minimum endowment level and may support any type of program account with the exception of a benefit account. The SIUE Foundation’s Investment Policy sets the percentage of earnings from the endowment accounts that may be distributed as income to the program accounts. This distribution is made at least once a year.
A permanent source of income for University programs and/or departments. Gifts to an endowment are invested, with a percentage (currently 3.8%) of the income growth supporting a specific University purpose as directed by the donor(s). The remaining income (minus an administrative fee) is reinvested into the endowment, ensuring that the value of the investment grows forever. Donors are encouraged to name the endowment in a way meaningful to them (i.e., Smith Family Fund, Joe Smith Fund for Excellence, etc.
LSU’s endowment is a pool of funds which is collected by the Foundation and invested to achieve a return. The return is then given to LSU as a means of academic support. Essentially, the endowment is an ever-growing, perpetual source of academic funds for LSU which never goes away. The endowment currently stands at $338 million. Creating an investment return on that $338 million is how the LSU Foundation provides a large portion of its support for LSU academics. For more information to help in understanding the endowment click here.
An endowment to The University of Alabama is a gift that is intended to permanently support a University program chosen by the donor. The endowment fund remains intact in perpetuity, while its earnings support students, faculty, and/or programs, as designated by the donor. How does The University of Alabama benefit from endowments? Endowments allow the University to create and maintain excellence in academics beyond what can be accomplished with funding from the state. Endowments provide the funds for scholarships, fellowships, professorships, academic chairs, libraries, and programs that serve as crucial elements in student and faculty recruitment and retention. Visit scholarships.ua.edu for more information on scholarships at UA. How can you benefit from creating an endowment? Perhaps the most rewarding aspect of establishing an endowment is that it allows you to directly accomplish your philanthropic goals while helping the University fund its initiatives. The reasons for creating a
