Endowments

Darden Reflection

Endowments

OVERVIEW

A perpetual source of strength.

Endowments produce a steady stream of funding for professorships to recruit and retain distinguished faculty; scholarships and fellowships to support deserving students; lectureships to bring distinguished speakers to Grounds; library acquisitions; and academic prizes to recognize outstanding students and faculty. The University’s unrestricted endowment generates vital funding for operations and enables the University to respond to important needs as they arise. Endowments must be funded at certain levels and may be designated for any school, department, or program at the University. They also may be named by the donor.

Endowments

Types of Endowed Funds

Deanships

Endowed deanships enable the University to attract and recognize distinguished faculty who contribute to the academic rigor of the institution and help shape its future.
 

Professorships

Endowed professorships provide permanent sources of support for faculty excellence. With their prestige and financial rewards, endowed chairs recognize scholars’ achievements and enhance their professional standing throughout the academic world.

Scholarships

Endowed scholarships help ensure that a UVA education is affordable for all undergraduate students regardless of their means. While financial aid from state and federal sources meets some of this need, donor-funded scholarships ensure that all qualified students have the opportunity to attend the University. Scholarships attract prospective students who in turn add significantly to the quality of life at the University.
 

Graduate Fellowships

Endowed fellowships enable the University to recruit outstanding graduate students, who are essential to the intellectual life of the institution. Graduate students pursue their own projects and assist faculty in their research and scholarship. They also play a critical role in undergraduate education, teaching basic and introductory courses and leading small discussion sections for large survey classes.
 

Faculty Funds for Excellence

Faculty funds for excellence allow schools to nurture faculty research, support new initiatives, create new courses and more. An endowed, named research fund may support faculty engaged in humanities scholarship or in research needed for discoveries in the hard and social sciences, including medicine and engineering. This support is vital for professors to fulfill their roles as scholars, researchers, and teachers.
 

Lectureships

Endowed lectureships generate funds to bring distinguished speakers to the University’s Grounds, enriching academic discourse and exposing students, faculty, and the larger community to new perspectives.

Research Funds

Research funds support faculty engaged in humanities scholarship, or the research needed for new discoveries in science, medicine, or engineering.
 

Library Funds

Library funds help the University Library pursue pioneering initiatives in digital scholarship while continuing to purchase ever-more-expensive books and journals. 
 

Centers, Institutes, Departments, and Programs

There are many opportunities to support the University’s various centers, institutes, departments, and programs. They may be named by a donor who contributes an endowment that generates at least half of the entity’s projected operating costs.
 

Memorial or Commemorative Funds

Memorial or commemorative endowed gift funds can be meaningful ways to honor friends, family members, or favorite professors.
 

Prizes and Awards

Prizes and awards are tangible expressions of the University’s values that also recognize distinguished contributions by faculty, staff, and students. 
 

Unrestricted Funding

At a minimum level of $100,000, a donor may designate an endowed gift to support the school, program, or initiative of his or her choice, to be used by the designee when and where needed.
 

Sound Investment, Strong Growth

Your endowed gift is a vital investment in UVA. The University of Virginia’s strong endowment has been a critical asset in expanding UVA’s programs and launching new initiatives. An effective long-term investment strategy helps maintain the endowment’s value over time, and provides a steady and growing stream of income essential to funding teaching, scholarships, research, and world-class patient care.

Growth of $1 in Long Term Pool vs. Passive Alternatives

Investment Vehicle UVIMCO Long Term PooL Policy Benchmark S&P 500
1999 1.00 1.00 1.00
2000 1.44 1.09 1.07
2001 1.47 1.00 0.91
2002 1.47 0.94 0.75
2003 1.60 0.96 0.75
2004 1.80 1.13 0.89
2005 2.06 1.27 0.95
2006 2.36 1.43 1.03
2007 2.96 1.71 1.25
2008 3.13 1.61 1.08
2009 2.47 1.30 0.80
2010 2.85 1.47 0.91
2011 3.54 1.80 1.19
2012 3.72 1.79 1.26
2013 4.22 2.00 1.52
2014 5.02 2.33 1.89
2015 5.41 2.37 2.03
2016 5.33 2.42 2.11
2017 5.99 2.69 2.49
2018 6.67 2.90 2.85
2019 7.06 3.12 3.15

Thanks to the expert management of the University of Virginia Management Company (UVIMCO), endowed gifts provide a crucial source of sustainable funding for UVA and its mission. UVIMCO invests endowed funds in a Long Term Pool, which is custom managed for the endowment spending requirements and UVA’s risk profile. Through effective active management, the Long Term Pool is carefully designed to generate a substantial and growing stream of income to support the University’s future financial stability, and fund priorities like student aid, teaching and research, and other initiatives.

The Long Term Pool generated a return of 49% for the fiscal year 2021 (July 1, 2020 through June 30, 2021), gaining more than $4.8 billion in value for investors and exceeding by a wide margin the 29.4% gain of the passive benchmark. As noted in the UVIMCO 2021 annual report, the year represents a single, highly unusual point in time, and UVIMCO’s investment performance over the past few decades is what really matters. UVIMCO's long-term returns remain strong. Over the ten-and twenty-year periods ending June 30, 2019, the Long Term Pool generated annualized returns of 12.1% and 10.6%, respectively, 

Growth of a Gift

See what an endowed gift made twenty years ago would be worth today.

The chart below shows the growth of an endowed gift invested in UVIMCO’s Long Term Pool.

Gift Size $1,000,000 $500,000 $250,000 $100,000
1997 1000000 500000 250000 100000
1998 1141338 570669 285335 114134
1999 1351376 675688 337844 135138
2000 1943680 971840 485920 194368
2001 1982913 991457 495728 198291
2002 1981040 990520 495260 198104
2003 2162473 1081237 540618 216247
2004 2436595 1218297 609149 243659
2005 2784655 1392327 696164 278465
2006 3189858 1594929 797465 318986
2007 3994746 1997373 998686 399475
2008 4231782 2115891 1057946 423178
2009 3343662 1671831 835916 334366
2010 3849418 1924709 962354 384942
2011 4784553 2392277 1196138 478455
2012 5029005 2514503 1257251 502901
2013 5703596 2851798 1425899 570360
2014 6787456 3393728 1696864 678746
2015 7312324 3656162 1828081 731232
2016 7199546 3599773 1799886 719955
2017 8093816 4046908 2023454 809382

Your gift of $100,000 creates a faculty research fund

Your gift of $500,000 creates a bicentennial scholarship

Your gift of $1,000,000 renovates a Lawn Room

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