Your investment in North Dakota State University through an endowment established with the NDSU Foundation ensures support for students, faculty, programs, and facilities continues into perpetuity. These investments work to enhance today’s educational experience and impact while helping you establish your NDSU donor legacy.
The Foundation’s fiscal year ending Dec. 31, 2022, realized an endowment loss of -8.28%, net of fees. While the year was tough in the market, the endowment’s diverse asset allocation is managed responsibly for the long-term and built to withstand times when returns are not what we hoped they would be.
Endowment spending strives to balance critical but competing goals: to provide stable, predictable funding to help meet the University’s needs in the current fiscal year, and to preserve and grow the value of the endowment’s assets to serve beneficiaries far into the future. The challenging investment environment and persistently high inflation made it more difficult to achieve these goals in 2022.
Now, the great news — perhaps the most important measure of the Foundation’s mission — dollars transferred to campus for scholarships, faculty support, programs, and facilities hit an all-time high in 2022, $44.7 million dollars. Support to campus is the total dollars transferred from donor-designated funds managed by the Foundation, including 1,519 active endowments, to NDSU for distribution to four categories, including scholarships ($9.4 million), programs ($2.9 million), faculty ($3.9 million), and facilities ($28.5 million). This achievement is only possible because of the generosity of benefactors, support for NDSU, and the long-term asset building of the endowment. New gifts and strong investment returns during the In Our Hands campaign (2016-2021) will result in an increase of 50% to the total endowment spending for campus support next year.
At the NDSU Foundation, we remain committed to being excellent stewards of your gifts and ensuring donor intent. As always, we are transparent about our work and welcome your feedback. Please contact us via email at Office@NDSUFoundation.com or by calling 701.231.6800. Thank you for your continued confidence in and support of NDSU.
Endowment payout is the annual amount made available to the University for spending of the donor designated purpose. The spending rate of 4% is applied to each individual endowment fund’s 12-quarter rolling average market value.
*Projected 2023 payout at the time of publishing.
The NDSU Foundation endowment is professionally managed by SEI in a well-diversified investment portfolio.
(as of 12/31/2022)
The endowment pool’s market value has more than doubled in the last five years, fueled primarily by generous donors to NDSU. The NDSU Foundation’s Investment Committee oversees the long-term investment strategy of the Foundation.
The NDSU Foundation expended the donor funds represented to support NDSU’s mission. The amounts represent both current-use gifts and endowment earnings.
Where endowments are making a difference at NDSU.
Fundraising by purpose
Margaret and her husband, Hugh Veit ’79, established the Eleanor S. Fitzgerald Memorial Graduate Student Scholarship to support NDSU students earning advanced degrees in the Department of Health, Nutrition, and Exercise Sciences or the Department of Human Development and Family Science.
Core areas of home economics remain part of current NDSU degree programs such as accounting; apparel, retail merchandising, and design; education; family and consumer science; financial planning; human development and family science; interior design; and nutrition science.
Home economics programs opened doors, particularly for women, to earn college degrees and pursue careers in education, Extension, state and federal government, business and industry, health care, and more. NDAC listed domestic economy as one of its courses in its founding year, 1890.
Established by Dr. Teresa Conner, dean of the NDSU College of Health and Human Sciences, and cochaired by Dr. Margaret Fitzgerald ’83 and Col. Esther Meyers ’75, the Wisdom Keepers provide support and share their knowledge and expertise with students, faculty, staff, and leadership in the College.
The home management house at NDAC was the first facility built on a college campus specifically for home management practice. In 1954, it was named in honor of Alba Bales, the first female academic dean at NDAC.