Endowments Endowments are a way to combine a donor’s vision with Montana State’s needs and objectives. They are the products of a dynamic and ongoing relationship between the donor and Montana State.

Working together, the university and the donor create an endowment that reflects a commonality of goals.

To guarantee that income from the endowment will always be sufficient to support the endowment purpose, minimum support levels for various types of endowments have been established.

The following categories represent a starting point in the endowment process.

Named Endowed Gift Opportunities

Dean's Chair $2 million An endowed deanship is the single most prestigious position in a school or college. Those appointed to the position of dean are charged with maintaining and enhancing the quality of the school or college they head. They are the leaders responsible for creating a vision for the school or college and for developing programs to implement and embody that vision.  These programs often require additional funding. Endowment gifts for school or college deanships provide discretionary funds that enable deans to build a set of outstanding departments and programs that will rank among the best of their kind. . By providing gifts to endow the position of the dean, donors endorse the ideals and goals of the university and have their names associated with the highest-ranking and most prestigious position in a school or college.

Faculty Chair/Institute Chair $1.5 million Endowed faculty chairs have long been recognized as both a hallmark of academic quality and a means by which a university honors its most esteemed scholars and teachers. Faculty chairs are reserved for scholars of national, or even international, stature, with highly distinguished records of teaching, research, and publication.  They constitute a time-honored way to recruit or retain scholars with exceptional records of achievement. . By providing funds to endow a faculty chair, donors can make a prominent and permanent investment in the university.  Donors may designate their gifts for a faculty chair in a particular area of study, provided this area is a priority for the school or college.  Faculty chairs established with gift funds may be named for the donor or someone the donor wishes to honor.

Professorship $1 million Professorships honor the career contributions of faculty members to an academic discipline, to the school or college, and to the university.  Professorships are traditionally named for faculty members who have made substantial scholarly and other contributions while at the university. By providing stipends and other enhancements to faculty members currently tenured at the university, professorships recognize and reward faculty members whose work is of the highest quality. . Professorships are often funded through endowment gifts from many individuals who wish to honor a former faculty member.  Donors who provide these gifts support and recognize some of the university’s most prominent scholars.

Program Endowment $750,000 This support directly enhances special project(s) of faculty. Faculty can tap these funds at their discretion for items such as the purchase of needed equipment, travel, or to hire research assistants.

Senior Faculty Fellowship $500,000 The advancement of knowledge through research is one of the primary responsibilities of a university. Senior faculty fellowships provide release time from classroom responsibilities for tenured faculty who have undertaken major research initiatives in their disciplines.  They enable these scholars to concentrate on conducting significant new investigations or to complete a book or major paper on completed research. . Donors who are committed to a particular field or discipline can endow a fellowship in a particular area of study, provided this area is a priority for the school or college to which the gift is made. By making a permanent investment in a cherished field of study, such gifts allow a donor to play an important role in furthering the advancement of knowledge in this area.  Senior faculty fellowships are named for the donor or someone the donor wishes to honor.

Post-Doctoral Fellowship $500,000 A post-doctoral fellowship is used to provide a salary to a highly accomplished individual who has recently completed his or her doctorate and has come to MSU Tech to undertake additional highly specialized research under the auspices of a specific professor.

Junior Faculty Fellowship $250,000 Junior faculty fellowships support the research and teaching of untenured assistant and associate professors whose work shows unusual promise. These young scholars develop exciting courses and often work with students on research. They may just be establishing a track record that will eventually attract external funding. By encouraging these individuals to persist in difficult or costly kinds of research, junior faculty fellowships become an important means of retaining valued young faculty members and supporting productive scholarships. . Donors who want to support junior faculty may endow a fellowship that will provide partial support for salary as well as for release time, equipment, and/or travel funds to complete research or writing projects that will enhance teaching expertise. Junior faculty fellowships are named for the donor or someone the donor wishes to honor.

Graduate Teaching Assistantship $200,000 A graduate teaching assistantship provides tuition support and a small stipend for one graduate student each year.  The graduate assistant will provide teaching assistance to full time faculty. The graduate teaching assistantship may be named for the donor or someone the donor wishes to honor.

Graduate Research Assistantship $200,000 A graduate research assistantship provides tuition support and a small stipend for one graduate student each year.  The graduate assistant will provide research support to full time faculty. The graduate teaching assistantship may be named for the donor or someone the donor wishes to honor.

Lectureship $150,000 An endowed lectureship provides funds to support an honorarium, travel costs, printing of program materials, and other expenses incurred in bringing a distinguished person to campus to present a program for faculty and students in a particular discipline or relative to a particular issue of national or international importance.

Athletic Scholarship $100,000 The athletic scholarship is used to support tuition, room and board for a student athlete for one year.

Graduate Fellowship $100,000 A graduate fellowship provides a supporting grant to help pay for tuition for one graduate student each year. The graduate fellowship grant may be named for the donor or someone the donor wishes to honor.

Undergraduate Scholarship $100,000 An undergraduate scholarship provides a supporting grant to pay tuition and fees for one undergraduate student each year. This scholarship will be used to recruit and/or retain the most promising students. The undergraduate scholarships may be named for the donor or someone the donor wishes to honor.

Partial Undergraduate Scholarship $50,000 An undergraduate scholarship provides a supporting grant to pay tuition and fees for one undergraduate student for one semester.  This scholarship will be used to recruit and/or retain the most promising students. The undergraduate scholarships may be named for the donor or someone the donor wishes to honor.

Undergraduate Research Endowment $50,000 An undergraduate research endowment provides support for one student to engage in the advancement of knowledge through research. The endowment will enable these scholars to concentrate on conducting significant new investigations or to complete a major paper on research. . Donors who are committed to a particular field or discipline can endow undergraduate research in a particular area of study, provided this area has been approved by the supervising faculty in the school or college to which the gift is made.  Undergraduate research endowments are named for the donor or someone the donor wishes to honor.

Unrestricted Endowment $50,000 Gifts made without restriction are among the university’s most valuable. The MSU Unrestricted Endowment, a reserve of endowed and expendable gifts, will enable campus leaders to take immediate action when new ideas appear and to allocate resources were they will do the most good.

Dean's Fund for Excellence $25,000 The Dean’s Excellence Endowment is established to provide unrestricted funds to the dean who may use the funds at his or her discretion in support of the most pressing needs of the college.

Book Fund $25,000 The Book Fund Endowment is established to provide funds to be used by the Dean of Libraries to purchase publications in support of the most pressing needs of the university.

Campus Preservation Fund $25,000 The Campus Preservation Fund Endowment is established to provide the university with funds to support projects that preserve and beautify the facilities and grounds of the campus to include gardens, small park settings, plantings, art and sculpture.

Endowments can be established through an outright gift or through a variety of gift planning techniques. Sometimes a much more significant endowment gift can be established when advantage is taken of special gift plans.

For additional information about gift planning contact the Gift Planning Office, Montana State University Foundation, 1501 South 11th Ave., Bozeman MT 59717. Please phone (406) 994-2053 or email plannedgiving@montana.edu