The Endowment

A significant portion, 60 percent, of Beyond Boundaries will be earmarked for the university’s endowment. The endowment is the permanent capital of the university; gifts to the endowment live on perpetuity. They are designated for areas that build an edge of excellence and move a school from good to great.

An endowed fund can be established with a minimum commitment of $25,000.  You may leave a legacy to Tufts in your name, in the name of a beloved faculty member, or any other person, when you endow a professorship. Endowed scholarships begin at $100,000 and endowed professorships start at $2 million.

Colleges and universities are fortunate when donors contribute to the university’s financial bedrock, and at Tufts, strategic management of the endowment, combined with redoubled fundraising, is paying off. Over the past 25 years, the endowment has steadily grown; of the total $1 billion raised over the past three campaigns, $312 million went toward building the endowment.

During the past five years, growth has been even more extraordinary. Tufts endowment has grown from $657 million to $1.5 billion as of June 30, 2007.

Tufts’ endowment is a key campaign priority for several reasons:

• Endowment dollars for scholarships give Tufts the resources to successfully compete for the very best students. Financial aid remains the single greatest challenge facing schools across Tufts as they seek to temper the expense of tuition with generous scholarships. With a stronger endowment, Tufts also will be better positioned to address a university-wide priority: increasing financial aid resources for all students, including implementing need-blind admissions for undergraduates.
• Endowment funds give Tufts the means to be competitive with peer institutions when it comes to attracting the very best faculty. Endowed named professorships, for instance, bring leading scholars and researchers to Tufts and invigorate the entire academic enterprise with their expertise.
• Endowment funds also build our scholarly and research reputation by providing excellent faculty with top-notch facilities, including laboratory space in the sciences, performance spaces in the arts, access to libraries and archives in the social sciences, and travel funding.
• Because a portion of an endowed gift is invested, the larger the university’s endowment, the more income can be generated to ensure institutional vitality well into the future.

Capital Gifts

Any gift that is designated for a particular initiative, such as endowment support, scholarship assistance, or building renovation, is a capital gift. Capital gifts are made in the form of cash, securities, or property. Capital gifts of a certain magnitude may be used for naming opportunities – for example, a classroom or a scholarship fund may be named for the donor or in honor of another person of the donor’s choosing. Capital gifts of a certain magnitude may also be used to endow a fund (such as a scholarship, faculty chair, or book fund) in the name of the donor or another.

With a capital gift, there are naming opportunities associated with building projects and components of a new facility.

To learn more about endowment and capital support, please contact Eric Johnson at eric.johnson@tufts.edu.