Since its founding in 1937, the University of Georgia Foundation has remained committed to supporting the University of Georgia and its mission of teaching, research, and service. Today, the UGA Foundation manages approximately $1.8 billion in assets, $1.4 billion of which is endowed.
The Foundation provides an average of $80 million per year to the University of Georgia to support scholarships, endowed chairs and professorships, and other privately funded programs. Need-based aid and support for students from rural areas of Georgia, along with the Foundation Fellows program, continue to be priorities for the Foundation.
The Board of Trustees, comprised of 50 members, manages the Foundation and directs surplus funds to areas of critical need at the University. This year, the trustees have allocated more than $7 million to support need-based student aid, rural economic development thought the Office of Public Service and Outreach, and priority building projects such as the Holmes-Hunter Academic Building and Poultry Science Complex.
Emeriti trustees led a fundraising campaign to elevate what was the UGA Honors Program into an Honors College named for UGA’s 22nd president, Jere W. Morehead, who previously served as director of the program. Every emeritus and current trustee contributed to the endowment established by the campaign, which raised more than $12 million. The endowment will provide new, permanent, and robust support for academic programming, undergraduate research, study abroad, and internship opportunities for Honors students.
An endowment is an opportunity for a donor to create a permanent legacy at the University of Georgia and allow future generations to benefit from today’s generosity. When donors establish an endowment, we invest the gift with two goals in mind: to provide spendable income for the donor’s specified purpose and to grow the principal faster than inflation. Any investment return that exceeds allowed spending is channeled back into the fund to increase growth.