Endowments

Make an Enduring Investment in a Healthier Tomorrow

Do you want to change the world today — and for years to come? Endowments are a meaningful way your generosity can improve the health of the public for generations.

Regular distributions from your endowment will provide a reliable, ongoing source of financial support that funds the work you care about most, forever.

Questions? We can help.

Interested in learning more about endowments? Please contact Natalie Rasmussen, associate director for donor relations, at UW Medicine Advancement at 206.543.6472 or natr55@uw.edu. Thank you for your interest!

Endowments at a Glance

Ready to make a difference? You can create an endowment that supports research, faculty, students and trainees, or programs.

Faculty Support Chairs and professorships help attract and retain top faculty to UW Medicine — and give them the resources they need to advance the way we understand, prevent, diagnose and treat disease. These named gifts can be a special tribute to a faculty member or someone else who is important to you.

Your generosity can fuel the critical research collaboration and networking needed to advance promising ideas and knowledge. (Minimum funding: $50,000)

Your legacy can launch the careers of the next generation. Faculty fellowships offer crucial research and academic support for newer faculty, allowing them to develop and explore innovative ideas. (Minimum funding: $100,000)

With an endowed professorship, you can accelerate the careers of more established faculty members and the goals of their department or division. (Minimum funding: $500,000)

When you establish an endowed chair, you move medicine forward in a profound way. These prestigious positions enable top faculty to conduct research that can lead to groundbreaking discoveries, new treatments and even cures. (Minimum funding: $2 million)

Student SupportYou can be part of the future of medicine when you choose to support students. A scholarship or fellowship will change lives — and help to train compassionate, dedicated medical leaders for our communities.

Your generosity can provide important support for undergraduate, graduate or professional students as they prepare for healthcare careers. You’ll be helping them complete a world-class education and enhance their training with conference and research opportunities. (Minimum funding: $25,000 for undergraduate students, $50,000 for graduate or professional students)

Today’s students will be tomorrow’s medical leaders, and you can be an essential part of their journey. A scholarship or fellowship provides substantial help to undergraduate, graduate or professional students — including residents, fellows and trainees — reducing their financial burden and putting an outstanding medical education within reach. Best of all, you’ll receive updates from the students you support, letting you know how your gift is changing their lives. (Minimum funding: $100,000 for a scholarship or fellowship; $250,000 for a distinguished scholarship or fellowship)

Research SupportUW Medicine is tackling the greatest challenges to human health — and it all begins with research. Your support helps our faculty develop and conduct scientific research, publish their findings and advance medicine for everyone, everywhere.

When you give to accelerate research, you’re providing critical support for groundbreaking work by our faculty. You’ll help them make their innovative ideas a reality, from designing experiments to conducting pilot studies. (Minimum funding: $100,000)

Program SupportGifts to support program priorities have wide-reaching impact. You’ll become a partner with students and faculty in advancing the medical areas you care about most: conducting research projects, collaborating with their peers, publishing their work and more.

When you make a gift to programs, you’re offering support that’s both versatile and valuable. This fund helps faculty and students advance solutions to the most urgent medical challenges of our time. (Minimum funding: $25,000)

Program needs vary; University of Washington minimums and endowment types are also subject to change.

Frequently Asked Questions

Please see our Endowments at a Glance section for more details on the types of endowments you can create.

We encourage you or your adviser to contact us. We can help you structure a gift that is meaningful to you and that has the biggest impact on the research, education and patient care priorities you care about most. You can use almost any type of asset, including cash, securities and real estate. Bequests and other deferred gifts, including those that provide life income to you or another beneficiary, can also fund endowments.

Gifts of any size can support an existing endowment and are very welcome! Please contact UW Medicine Advancement at 206.543.5686 or writemed@uw.edu to make a gift.

To create a new endowment with a name of your choosing, UW Medicine has several options, based on the level of funding required. When you establish an endowment, the money is invested in the University of Washington’s Consolidated Endowment Fund. A portion of the interest earned is provided to a department or division for the intended purpose.

Endowment gifts are invested in the University of Washington’s Consolidated Endowment Fund (CEF). While the investment is a collective endeavor, each named endowment is monitored separately to track growth in principal and distributions.

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

The UW Endowment Report contains detailed information on the CEF, its investment policies and recent returns. Contributors of $5,000 or more to an endowment receive an annual report on the performance of the fund or funds they personally support. Additionally, UW Medicine provides donors with opportunities to learn about the impact of their gift, including reports, updates from endowed faculty holders, letters from students and in-person opportunities to meet those who have benefited from their generosity.

Once a fund is created and the time is right, the process of appointing a holder begins. The appointment process involves multiple offices at UW Medicine and at the University of Washington, and it culminates with the UW Board of Regents’ selection of the holder of the chair or professorship.