Endowment - Is There A Future For Your
Organization?
Endowment-What? Why? How Much?
An endowment fund is a permanent
fund established by the organization where donors can make a gift to it, knowing that their gift will be held in perpetuity.
Only the annual earnings from the fund may be used to carry on the organization programs and facilities.
It is the permanency of this fund
that makes it so valuable. Only through a growing endowment will your organization's friends know that the your organization's
programs and services will be assured for generations to come.
Basic Concepts
In order to be successful, we must
understand a few basic concepts. Most gifts to endowments will be given out of accumulated assets from families rather than
from disposable income (cash).
Families will generally support endowments
for those organizations that they have had a meaningful relationship with. In addition, those groups must be actively involved
in providing them with the opportunity and assistance.
Campaign or Process
Many organizations attempt to approach
endowment development with traditional fund raising techniques (campaigns) only to become frustrated. In most cases, they
generally only realize relatively small amounts of cash. What they fail to realize is that most gifts come from accumulated
assets (where the wealth of our society is). In order to realize substantial gifts from these sources we must deal with our
supporters with a more mature approach. This is called the development process.
Significant gifts will come to our
endowment when we help donors find ways of making planned gifts which help them achieve their own long range objectives! It
is the selection of the right giving vehicle that makes the “big” difference.
Development Process
The process approach is primarily
designed to appeal to the donors' interest first. In this approach, we do not need to market the organization (this is done
when we are campaigning for annual or capital support).
We must let our friends know that
there is now the opportunity to include our endowment fund in their future plans.
The more we can become involved in
helping families select an approach to giving, the more substantial will the gift be.
Finally, we must implement an ongoing
program designed to recognize and thank those families who have included us in their long-range plans.
