3 ms·

indefinitely means one-time grant which is invested, and the returns on investment pay the salary of a grad student or part of a professor's salary. So yeah, it

indefinitely means one-time grant which is invested, and the returns on investment pay the salary of a grad student or part of a professor's salary. So yeah, it's indefinite. These profs still have to get funds to get grad students or lab space, and still have to teach to maintain certain benefits. In later years, the endowed chair is essentially a chair in the closet as their research and teaching activity tapers off before retirement. My spouse was an education-institution major gift fundraiser, so she dealt with endowed professorships, eternal grad student fellowhips, recurring scholarships, and the like. Generally, you can attach as many or as little strings to the gift as you want, but for most things there's no way to enforce those strings after the gift is made and the financial engine starts producing.

JumpCrisscross 2y ago
Also indefinite != infinite.
joncrocks 2y ago
I think that either the amount (in real terms) goes down over time, or there is a limited time that any endowment will last. Faced with inflation, and the requirement that there is money coming out every X months, I believe it's hard for any other outcome to be achieved.
- jvanderbot 2y ago
  You would think that. But there are large expert teams of money managers that ensure the amount stays the same over time (or even matches inflation), given large enough cash reserves. It's not hard. With an investment of 10,000 you can put it in a high yield savings account and get a few % / year, akin to 100/y. So A million is 10,000 / y. That's a very nice fellowhip "for free" just from a large donation. These aren't actual numbers, they're just a proof of existence of perpetual money from a one-time investment. inb4 inflation: reduce the yearly outlay by enough to reinvest so the yearly fellowship matches inflation. Your investment just needs to grow faster than inflation.

JumpCrisscross 2y ago

Also indefinite != infinite.

joncrocks 2y ago

I think that either the amount (in real terms) goes down over time, or there is a limited time that any endowment will last. Faced with inflation, and the requirement that there is money coming out every X months, I believe it's hard for any other outcome to be achieved.

jvanderbot 2y ago
You would think that. But there are large expert teams of money managers that ensure the amount stays the same over time (or even matches inflation), given large enough cash reserves. It's not hard. With an investment of 10,000 you can put it in a high yield savings account and get a few % / year, akin to 100/y. So A million is 10,000 / y. That's a very nice fellowhip "for free" just from a large donation. These aren't actual numbers, they're just a proof of existence of perpetual money from a one-time investment. inb4 inflation: reduce the yearly outlay by enough to reinvest so the yearly fellowship matches inflation. Your investment just needs to grow faster than inflation.