Endowments and Planned Gifts: What and Why?

An endowment is what you do with the gift, rather than the planning for the gift or the gift itself. A true endowment gift is permanently invested, not spent for current operations or capital projects. An endowment supports initiatives not for just one year, or even one generation, but in perpetuity, with a portion of the endowment’s value used annually as the donor specifies or as the board chooses.