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We encourage you to contact us about how to structure your gift to create the impact that is meaningful to you. You can use almost any type of asset, including cash, securities, and real estate. Bequests and other deferred gifts, including those that provide life income to you or another beneficiary, can also be used to support new or existing funds. To create a new current use fund or endowment with a name you choose, the University of Washington has established minimums that must be met. Gifts of any size can support an existing current use fund or endowment.
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Yes. Pledge commitments may be fulfilled over 3-5 years, depending on the type of fund. If you establish a new endowment, the endowment will invest on the next quarterly investment date once the minimum funding requirement is met (even if the full pledge is not yet fulfilled.)
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Yes. Your directed gifts from donor-advised funds and community foundations are treated as donor gifts from the issuing institution. However, because these funds are not legally owned by the donor directing the gift, we cannot set up a multi-year pledge for donor-advised or community foundation funds.
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Many donors choose to name new current use funds or endowments to honor a family member, an influential professor or mentor; preserve the name of their family foundation; or to create a personal legacy. Creating and naming a new fund requires meeting current minimum requirements and signing a gift agreement with the University.
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Yes. The College has many existing funds supporting students, faculty, programs and research, and additional gifts toward those existing funds are always welcome. There are no minimum gift requirements to support existing funds.
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Yes. Please connect with a CAS fundraiser to discuss how best to establish an estate gift.
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Endowed funds are managed in the UW’s Consolidated Endowment Fund (CEF). The CEF holds a diversified mix of stocks, bonds, and other assets managed primarily by UWINCO. The UW’s Board of Regents, the University’s highest authority, establishes CEF investment and spending policies and monitors the fund’s management and performance.
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Distributions from the Consolidated Endowment Fund (CEF) are made on a quarterly basis to the fund’s benefiting department to be used as defined by the gift purpose. Under the CEF spending policy established by the UW Board of Regents, as of July 1, 2026, distributions to programs are equal to 4% of the 5-year rolling average of the endowment’s market value. (Using a rolling average decreases the impact of market fluctuations.)
The University has built an online calculator that can be used to estimate endowment earnings payouts for different gift levels. For additional information about the Consolidated Endowment Fund, visit https://finance.uw.edu/treasury/CEF.
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Gifts to current use funds are available to the department immediately, while gifts to endowments distribute more slowly.
A gift to an existing endowment will be invested in the Consolidated Endowment Fund (CEF) on the next quarterly investment date (July 1, Oct 1, Jan 1, April 1). A gift to an existing endowment increases the principal of the endowed fund, which increases the amount of the next quarterly distribution.
Once a new endowment is invested in the Consolidated Endowment Fund (CEF), the benefiting department will begin receiving endowment disbursements at the end of the third quarter following investment. For example, if an endowment is invested in the CEF on January 1, disbursements to the benefiting department would begin on September 30.