Endowments are Forever

An endowment is a permanent fund supporting a purpose of your choosing. Depending on your individual passion or interest, your endowment, which provides funds in perpetuity, can be focused or wide-ranging. The principal of your gift is invested and grows over time, while quarterly distributions provide a steady, reliable source of income to the program you choose. This ensures your gift will provide benefits year after year, generation after generation.

You can start an endowment that supports:

• Scholarships and fellowships.
• Professorships, lectureships and chairs.
• Research, programs or other purposes.
• Unrestricted use.

Distributions from endowments transform lives at the UW each year — those of students, faculty, researchers and of everyone participating in hundreds of programs and activities that enrich our community.

We encourage you or your adviser to contact us to structure your gift to provide support that is meaningful for you and has a powerful impact.

You can use almost any type of asset — cash, securities, real estate or other property. Bequests and other deferred gifts, including those that provide life income to you or another beneficiary, can also fund endowments.

Named endowments

To create a new endowment with a name you choose, the UW has several options, starting at $25,000 (program needs and minimums vary by school, college, campus and department). You can support an existing endowment with a gift of any size.

General Endowment - $25,000
Unrestricted support for a department, program, school, college or the UW. Includes: research funds, lectureships, travel funds, publication services, etc.

Undergraduate Scholarship - $50,000
Tuition, books, fees and other educational expenses.

Graduate Fellowship - $100,000
Tuition, books, research and living expenses for graduate or professional students.

Faculty Fellowship – Starting at $100,000
Research and other support, including lectures or publication costs.

Lectureship - $150,000 Stipends to visiting and resident lecturers, travel, related expenses.

Professorship - Starting at $250,000
Faculty salary supplement, research support, equipment, publication costs.

Chair - Starting at $1,000,000
Full or substantial portion of salary and related support for faculty member.

Fund management and distribution

Endowment gifts are invested in the UW’s Consolidated Endowment Fund (CEF, opens in new window), which combines assets for investment purposes. Each named endowment retains its own purpose and account (budget) number, by which the UW tracks growth in principal and distributions.

The CEF holds a diversified mix of stocks, bonds and other assets, which are managed by professional investment firms employed by UW. The UW’s Board of Regents oversees CEF investment policies and regularly evaluates the investment managers’ performance.

The UW Endowment Report contains detailed information on the CEF, its investment policies and recent returns. Each year, contributors of $5,000 or more to an endowment also receive a report on the performance of the fund or funds that they personally support.

Questions?
Send an E-mail
1-877-UW-GIFTS (894-4387) or 206-685-1980
206-685-8911 (FAX)
University of Washington Office of Endowment Stewardship
4333 Brooklyn Ave. NE
Box 359504
Seattle, WA 98195-9504