Endowment Gifts
Endowment funds are permanently restricted so the income from the funds is only used for the purpose agreed to by you, the donor, when the Foundation accepts the gift.
Named endowment opportunities can be established at $10,000 or more, which can be given as a lump sum, spread over up to five years or as a part of an estate gift and will support your gift intentions in perpetuity.
Historically the Foundation’s return on the investment pool of endowed funds has averaged 8%-10% and has paid out 3% to 5% for qualified educational programs and projects.
Currently, for endowment funds eligible to fund a pay-out, the spending allowance pay-out rate is set at 3.5%, with a 1.75% administrative expense, for a total annual withdrawal of 5.25%. However, this is subject to change bi-annually at the Trustees’ discretion. The spending allowance is applied to a three year rolling average of the market value of your endowment fund.
The administrative expenses are not an investment brokerage fee. They are used to help offset accounting, legal fees and staff time spent administering endowment funds.
Growth above the pay-out ratio is added to your endowment fund’s principal balance to help offset years when investment returns are less than the pay-out ratio. When the principal in the fund grows, so will future distributions.
New endowment funds with a principal value of $100,000 and above have a 1% administrative expense and endowments over $1,000,000 have a 0.5% administrative expense. This is subject to change at the Trustees’ discretion.
Endowment funds can be established for a number of educational purposes such as:
- The FarmHouse Excellence Fund, which would continue your thoughtful annual giving in perpetuity and enable the Foundation Trustees to use at their discretion to fund the educational programs, leadership grants, talented professional staff and operations of the International Fraternity and Foundation.
- Leadership training programs of the Fraternity, such as the FarmHouse Leadership Institute, the Emerging Talent Retreat, Conclave, virtual programs and future educational initiatives. You may designate this support to benefit a chapter and/or a specific leadership program.
- Merit-based academic scholarships and/or study abroad opportunities for undergraduate and/or graduate members, for a specific chapter or across the FarmHouse membership. If you decide to set-up a scholarship endowment fund, you have the opportunity to determine the scholarship’s criteria for selecting recipients such as GPA, year in school, and/or major.
- Permanent funding to build and maintain the educational portion of chapter housing for a specific building fund or to benefit all chapters.
- Emerging needs of the International Fraternity, which could invest in tackling challenges the Fraternity faces at the time, provide “seed” money to develop new leadership or educational initiatives or enable the Fraternity and Foundation to have steady funding during uncertain times, like we’re experiencing now.
You may see other opportunities for the Fraternity to fulfill its mission, which the Foundation Trustees and staff would be pleased to consider with you. For a named endowment fund, we would work together to create a Fund Agreement to ensure your gift intentions are fulfilled when the gift comes to fruition. For more information, please contact Allison Rickels at via email or (816) 891-9445.
Endowments
Endowment Gifts
Endowment funds are permanently restricted so the income from the funds is only used for the purpose agreed to by you, the donor, when the Foundation accepts the gift.
Named endowment opportunities can be established at $10,000 or more, which can be given as a lump sum, spread over up to five years or as a part of an estate gift and will support your gift intentions in perpetuity.
Historically the Foundation’s return on the investment pool of endowed funds has averaged 8%-10% and has paid out 3% to 5% for qualified educational programs and projects.
Currently, for endowment funds eligible to fund a pay-out, the spending allowance pay-out rate is set at 3.5%, with a 1.75% administrative expense, for a total annual withdrawal of 5.25%. However, this is subject to change bi-annually at the Trustees’ discretion. The spending allowance is applied to a three year rolling average of the market value of your endowment fund.
The administrative expenses are not an investment brokerage fee. They are used to help offset accounting, legal fees and staff time spent administering endowment funds.
Growth above the pay-out ratio is added to your endowment fund’s principal balance to help offset years when investment returns are less than the pay-out ratio. When the principal in the fund grows, so will future distributions.
New endowment funds with a principal value of $100,000 and above have a 1% administrative expense and endowments over $1,000,000 have a 0.5% administrative expense. This is subject to change at the Trustees’ discretion.
Endowment funds can be established for a number of educational purposes such as:
- The FarmHouse Excellence Fund, which would continue your thoughtful annual giving in perpetuity and enable the Foundation Trustees to use at their discretion to fund the educational programs, leadership grants, talented professional staff and operations of the International Fraternity and Foundation.
- Leadership training programs of the Fraternity, such as the FarmHouse Leadership Institute, the Emerging Talent Retreat, Conclave, virtual programs and future educational initiatives. You may designate this support to benefit a chapter and/or a specific leadership program.
- Merit-based academic scholarships and/or study abroad opportunities for undergraduate and/or graduate members, for a specific chapter or across the FarmHouse membership. If you decide to set-up a scholarship endowment fund, you have the opportunity to determine the scholarship’s criteria for selecting recipients such as GPA, year in school, and/or major.
- Permanent funding to build and maintain the educational portion of chapter housing for a specific building fund or to benefit all chapters.
- Emerging needs of the International Fraternity, which could invest in tackling challenges the Fraternity faces at the time, provide “seed” money to develop new leadership or educational initiatives or enable the Fraternity and Foundation to have steady funding during uncertain times, like we’re experiencing now.
You may see other opportunities for the Fraternity to fulfill its mission, which the Foundation Trustees and staff would be pleased to consider with you. For a named endowment fund, we would work together to create a Fund Agreement to ensure your gift intentions are fulfilled when the gift comes to fruition. For more information, please contact Allison Rickels at via email or (816) 891-9445.
