Ways to Give

Giving to WIU

Endowment Gifts

An endowment is a stable philanthropic investment that yields secure, significant annual returns. Guaranteeing support into the future, endowments fund an array of campus-wide activities and programs, including student scholarships, endowed chairs, professorships, and fellowships.

Endowed professorships and chairs, which can carry the name of the donor, provide WIU colleges and programs an avenue for attracting and rewarding distinguished faculty. Named teaching positions also offer heightened recognition and visibility to specific areas of faculty expertise.

Endowments also enable donors to create a lasting and meaningful difference in the lives of our students through a perpetual source of scholarship funds. Scholarships can be an important factor in determining where academically talented students choose to pursue their education.

Along with endowed scholarships, WIU welcomes non-endowed scholarship giving. Unlike endowments, these awards provide one-time, immediate financial assistance for prospective students.

Establishing Endowment Funds

The general policy for the creation of permanent endowment funds as approved by the WIU Foundation Board of Directors is as follows:

  1. Named endowment funds can be established for amounts exceeding $25,000. Funds may be established with amounts less than $25,000 if it is the expressed intent of the donor to reach the stated minimum within a reasonable period of time from the date of receipt of the initial gift. If the principal, including capitalized earnings, and additional gifts does not reach the minimum in a reasonable time, the fund may be terminated and the amount accumulated used for the general purposes most resembling those decreed by the donor.
  2. An endowment fund can be established and activated when under the stated minimum if the donor undertakes an obligation to supplement the income of the fund with annual gifts to complete the endowment or ensures complete funding with an estate plan provision.3. As appropriate, the terms of any designated endowed fund must include language to permit the Foundation Board of Directors to modify use of such funds if conditions warrant. Such action is authorized by the donor by including the following clause in the transfer of assets while living or by bequest.