Financing The Future
Ashland University’s endowment strengthens and sustains our legacy so we can continue to shape our local community, our state, and our world for the better.
Ashland University’s emphasis on the individual has long informed everything we do. This commitment to developing future leaders, teachers and innovators across a wide range of industries and contexts allows students to discover and pursue their unique passions and leave a legacy of positive change in their wake.
But our prioritization of the individual doesn’t stop there.
Our commitment also extends to the many ways students, alumni, faculty, staff, parents and friends of the university are able to pay it forward and offer life-changing levels of support for current and future generations of students.
Ashland’s endowment has grown significantly since 2017–generating, on average, around $1 million each year in student scholarships.
This is because of our new and loyal donors, an ongoing adherence to Ashland’s investment principles, a commitment to conservative spending and utilizing top investment advisors.
Endowment Match Challenge
Ashland University has announced a new initiative to expand opportunities, access and affordability for our students. Ashland will match $1 for every $3 donated up to $1 million!
Consider how an endowment can help you leave your legacy to support our students, programs, or faculty. Create an endowed scholarship to provide for Ashland students. Leave a lasting legacy through an endowed chair for a professor or department head. Make a long-term investment in helping students participate in internships. Or, provide a sustaining gift for a new or existing academic program. Here is how it works:
Establish a new endowed fund
Add to an existing endowed fund
The minimum matched contribution is $25,000 (cash, securities or a pledge)
The maximum matched contribution is $100,000 (cash, securities or a pledge)
Pledges may be committed over a three to five-year period
Donated Funds
Ashland University Match
$25,000
$8,333
$50,000
$16,666
$75,000
$25,000
$100,000
$33,333
Endowed Scholarships
Gifts funding undergraduate student scholarships make it possible for Ashland to attract and retain the best students, regardless of their financial circumstances. You can make a difference by establishing a new endowed scholarship to benefit students enrolled in the college of your choice.
You Can Open the Path for Another
Olivia Plank’s experience at Ashland is just one example of how donor generosity is changing lives–and futures–for students.
Born and raised in Ashland, Olivia was inspired early on to pursue her teaching degree. She chose Ashland University because of its legacy of educational excellence. But the generosity she has experienced during her years here has set her up for success in ways she never imagined.
Because of scholarships available to her through the generous gifts of Ashland supporters, she was able to live on campus and complete her education without having to take out any loans.
“It’s a huge blessing,” she says. “Being able to look for my first teaching job and make the transition to the workforce without carrying any student loan debt is an enormous gift.”
Because of your generosity, Olivia–and students just like her–are able to dedicate themselves to reaching their full potential as they prepare for their professional careers ahead and draw inspiration from the connections they make with faculty and staff.
Your gifts pave the way to a successful future for our dedicated and passionate students. And “thankful” doesn’t even begin to touch how they feel about your generosity.
On Average, each year:
Over 30% of students come from low income families.
About 25% are first generation—something we are proud of!
Nearly 90% receive AU gift aid from generous donors
Type
Minimum Gift
Estimated Annual Impact
Endowed Presidential Scholarship
$400,000
$20,000
Endowed Provost Scholarship
$200,000
$10,000
Endowed Scholarship
$25,000
$1,250
Faculty Endowments
Since its founding, a hallmark of Ashland University is our remarkable faculty. These distinguished individuals are crucial to our mission and core values. You can help to ensure the University continues to recruit and retain leading faculty who emphasize teaching enhanced by research and scholarship through your support of endowed distinguished chairs, professorships, and faculty fellowships.
The future success of Ashland depends on attracting and retaining faculty with the drive to succeed and a heart to serve. Your gifts are needed to create capacity for new opportunities.
To paint a picture of what this looks like practically, here is an Ashland example. Earned income from a faculty endowment would allow current compensation of psychology professor, Dr. Chris Chartier to be used in other ways. Dr. Chartier founded the International Collaboration Research Center and is leading the development of the Psychological Science Accelerator—an initiative changing the entire landscape of how psychology studies are structured across the globe—providing unique student experiences through this collaboration. Due to the faculty endowment earnings, Dr. Chartier can expand his research and provide even more opportunities for students on our campus.
Directly supporting our faculty through an endowment is a powerful way to ensure we can expand the unique, world-changing opportunities happening at Ashland University.
Type
Minimum Gift
Estimated Annual Impact
Endowed Chair
$2,000,000
$100,000
Endowed Professorship
$1,500,000
$75,000
Endowed Faculty Fellowship
$500,000
$25,000
Program Endowments
Whether you want to provide professors with equipment for research, eager students with opportunities for cultural exploration, or pathways for students to find their life calling, program endowments make a difference for specific endeavors. This type of endowment supports the long-term viability of special programs across campus.
Each year, faculty and staff initiate innovative and captivating programs which open new doors for our students. These projects can thrive long term when the program is endowed.
For example, the College of Arts & Sciences has an endowed fund for student research in the sciences. Funds from this endowment provide educational opportunities for students involved in undergraduate research projects in the natural sciences. Some examples of how funds from this program endowment can be used are: stipend support, travel for conferences, materials for presentations, research supplies and equipment.
Funding through an endowment provides innovative programs with needed longevity and stability, so our students now and into the future will continue to have world class opportunities.
Type
Minimum Gift
Estimated Annual Impact
Endowed Provost Innovation Fund
$500,000
$25,000
Endowed Lectureship
$250,000
$12,500
Endowed Research Fund
$250,000
$12,500
Endowed Student Program Fund
$100,000
$5,000
Athletic Endowment Funds
An Athletic Endowment fund is a sport-specific endowment. Your gift will directly benefit the team of your choice and will provide ongoing opportunities for the coaches and individual student-athletes to cover their basic needs, provide further scholarship opportunities, attract the highest levels of talent to our athletic program and allow the athletic staff and coaches the flexibility to position each of their student-athletes for success.
Through the years, our teams have competed at the highest levels of their individual sports and Athletic Endowment funds ensure success continues into the future. You are vital to continuing the tradition. We are inviting you to join us in creating opportunities for both current and future student-athletes with a commitment of $25,000 or more. Whether you’ve given in the past or are waiting for the right opportunity, you are invited to become a pillar of this exciting new endeavor.
With a gift, you will leave your own legacy of lasting success, creating unique opportunities for our individual student-athletes to continue Ashland’s tradition of winning, both for today and long into the future.
Endowment Opportunities at Ashland Theological Seminary
Endowed scholarships at Ashland Theological Seminary assists students with the financial cost of their education. In addition, scholarships help to attract and retain our best students. You can make a difference by establishing a new endowed scholarship to benefit Ashland Theological Seminary students.
Ashland Theological Seminary has remarkable faculty. Your support of endowed distinguished chairs, professorships, and faculty fellowships, helps to ensure the Seminary continues to recruit and retain leading faculty who emphasize teaching enhanced by research and scholarship.
Whether you want to provide professors with equipment for the classroom or their research, students with opportunities for cultural exploration, or special lectures to enhance our programs and community outreach, program endowments make a difference for unique endeavors. This type of endowment supports the long-term viability in specific ways for Ashland Theological Seminary.
This dynamic group of alumni, parents and friends plays a vital role in supporting the University with unrestricted funds. Their support affords the University leaders the flexibility to embrace new ideas and emerging opportunities while meeting the evolving needs of today’s students.
We embraced this idea as a central tenet of what we believed we could accomplish together and watched as you responded like never before, setting the stage for the most successful fundraising campaign we’ve ever undertaken.
You have proven your strength again. And with the end of The Campaign for Every Individual, the future of student opportunities at Ashland holds more promise than ever before.
Planned Giving
How can a planned gift tell your story? Your personal estate plan can be simple or very complex. Planned gifts are made through a variety of vehicles such as a last will and testament, trust, retirement assets, life insurance, real estate or other personal property. Planned gifts generate a current income tax deduction, maximize your giving potential, and can even provide lifetime income payments to enhance your current financial security.
If you already have a named endowment or currently support endowed programs or operations, consider adding a deferred gift today to enhance your giving in the future.
Explore How to Give and What to Give
