Endowments at SDSU

At their core, endowments are essentially a celebration of our people: the people guiding and instructing the next generation of Jackrabbits, the people who invest in our premier standard of education, and the people who will be touched by transformational funding today, tomorrow, and generations into the future.

Defined as gifts invested to support a university’s growth, endowments are perpetually funded financial resources that serve to advance knowledge and fuel innovation. The power of these investments stems from both the everlasting nature of the opportunities they create and the abundance of possibilities for donors to make a difference.

Endowments can support anything from individual positions, departments, or even an entire academic college. Though the university has seen commitments for more big-picture impact areas, endowments have gained the greatest momentum when it comes to faculty positions.

The prestige of endowed faculty positions lends credibility with national peers, heightening appeal for high-caliber faculty from around the globe. They also help to bolster research efforts, allowing SDSU to capitalize on opportunities as they emerge and foster educational experiences that might otherwise not be possible.

With the dramatic increase in endowed positions came the need to recognize the holders of the positions, and the University Leadership Honors event was born. On September 29, 2022, SDSU instated a collective investiture ceremony to celebrate new and existing staff honored as endowment recipients, as well as offering the yellow and blue community the chance to recognize the generous donors who made the positions a reality.

The philanthropy behind these endowments is a critical indicator of the success of Bold & Blue. When the campaign was conceptualized in 2017, the university was home to 13 endowed faculty positions. While Bold & Blue’s public fundraising goal was to generate $500 million in support of SDSU, the initiative also declared an internal goal to secure commitments for 50 endowed positions.

By April 2024 when the grand total of Bold & Blue was announced, there were commitments in place for 58 positions.

These 58 endowed positions are many and diverse, representing every facet of campus and spanning both academics and athletics. Every donor behind each position carries a unique story and motivation for giving back to SDSU, investing in a piece of university history that will continue on in perpetuity. By giving to endowments, our donors have given a gift that will truly last forever.

Provost Hedge summed it up best: “Endowments are a tremendous legacy. Think about it: not only do they impact our academic and research work today, endowments live on into the future. Is there anything more powerful than something that will live on throughout time?”