Why Give? Make Your Mark

Funding an endowment, facility or program allows a donor to make an indelible mark on the university. A gift that meets certain criteria brings the benefactor recognition or enables him/her to honor a loved one, friend or colleague. Named Endowments
Endowments may be named by donors and designated to support such purposes as faculty chairs, scholarships, fellowships, lectureships, memorial funds, book funds and prizes.

Naming a Building

A donor may name an existing MCG building by providing a gift equal to at least 51 percent of the value of the facility. A new building may be named with a gift that covers at least 51 percent of the construction costs not covered by the state.

Distinguished Professorships

The university uses these chairs to enhance the scholarly strengths of its departments and programs. Income from the endowment generously supplements the chairholder's base salary. The endowment also produces discretionary funds the chairholder may use to support course development and research.

Master Teacher

These chairs are the university's primary vehicles for maintaining an eminent faculty. Providing substantial supplements to a base salary, professorships at this level allow the university to attract gifted scholars and teachers and to retain those already on the faculty. These chairs are also used to recruit distinguished visiting professors.

Research Fellowships

These professorships allow chairholders to pursue research at the forefront of their fields. Awarded to talented scholars for one- to four-year periods, these chairs supplement professors' salaries while they conduct research in the summer or take a sabbatical.

Scholarships and Fellowships

In the face of rising tuition and fees, scholarships enable the university to recruit qualified students regardless of their financial means. Equally important are graduate fellowships, which help MCG compete for the best students pursuing advanced study.

Other Endowed Gifts

Commemorative or memorial opportunities are also available for gifts at the following levels:

Endowed Lectureships

Funds generated by an endowed lectureship provide honoraria for distinguished speakers. Scholars consider it a high honor to be invited to deliver a named lecture.

Memorial or Commemorative Endowed Gift Funds

These gifts may be named at the discretion of the donor and designated for any MCG school or program.Prizes and Awards
An endowed prize or award allows the university, or an individual school or department, to recognize outstanding performance by students, faculty members or other members of the MCG community. Prizes or awards established with a gift of $50,000 or more may be named by the donor.

Book Funds and Preservation Funds

The Robert B. Greenblatt, M.D. Library, as well as libraries operated by individual schools and departments, use the income from these endowed funds to make important additions to their collections. If the donor wishes, commemorative or memorial bookplates will be placed in the new purchases.

Unrestricted Endowments

To fuel ongoing operations and to sustain excellence in academic programs, the university increasingly relies on private unrestricted support. With a gift of $100,000 or more, a donor may create a named, unrestricted endowment that will provide a perpetual source of funds to meet urgent needs as they arise and to capitalize on emerging academic opportunities.

Centers, Institutes, Departments and Programs

A center, institute, department or program may be named by a donor who contributes an endowment that generates at least half of the entity's projected operating costs.