Best of CASE District VII Award
 

Institution: California State University, Chico

Title of entry: University Foundation Endowment Match Challenge Program

About this entry: The Endowment Match Challenge Program presented an unprecedented opportunity for Chico State alumni and friends to join the University in supporting extraordinary students, faculty, and programs. The program was designed to grow the endowment, inspire donors to make major gift commitments before the conclusion of the Transform Tomorrow Campaign, and to create a lasting impact at Chico State through their endowed funds. Through this innovative first-time program, donors making immediate new endowment gifts of $25,000 or more, payable over one to five years, were eligible to be matched at 20 percent. Donors could designate their endowments for a specific department, college, program, or scholarship. The program would end June 30, 2021 or when all the matching funds were claimed, whichever occurred first.

The idea was presented to the University Foundation Board of Governors, which generously approved the request to designate $100,000 from Board Discretionary Funds as matching funds to new endowments. Launched in October 2020, the program was immediately well-received by our donors. As they stepped up in significant ways, the tremendous success spurred us to return to the Board with a request to increase the pool of matching funds. On June 30, 2021, when the program and the campaign ended, more than $2.5 million in new commitments had been received and over $500,000 in matching funds had been claimed. This special program was a fresh and welcome story to tell donors and prospects during the COVID-19 shutdown—and resulted in transformative new gifts for an array of designations across campus.