UMass President and five Chancellors issue statement on the recent passage of the Endowment Match Program
UMass President Martin T. Meehan and the chancellors of the five UMass campuses – UMass Amherst Chancellor Kumble R. Subbaswamy, UMass Boston Interim Chancellor Katherine S. Newman, UMass Dartmouth Chancellor Robert E. Johnson, UMass Lowell Chancellor Jacqueline F. Moloney and UMass Medical School Chancellor Michael F. Collins – have issued the following statement regarding the inclusion of funding for the “Endowment Match Program” in the state supplemental budget.
The University of Massachusetts is thrilled that the House, Senate and Governor Baker included the Endowment Match Program in the recently passed supplemental budget. The $10 million appropriation, $5 million of which is earmarked for the University of Massachusetts, will bolster investment in critical areas throughout the public higher education sector.
The Endowment Match Program provides $1 in state matching funds for every $2 raised through private fundraising up to the appropriated limit. This program has a proven history of incentivizing private giving and aids the campuses in leveraging their existing donor bases to contribute to endowed funds. Those endowed funds provide significant scholarship support for current and incoming students, establish and fund innovative faculty research and support important initiatives across the university.
Since the program was first established in 1997, the state has invested $54 million, which incentivized more than $100 million in private giving. Today, those initial investments are valued at $275 million, and their annual returns provide $11 million in funds that are invested back into the university and its students.
We are deeply grateful to Governor Baker, House Speaker Robert DeLeo, Senate President Karen Spilka, House Ways & Means Chairman Aaron Michlewitz, Senate Ways & Means Chairman Michael Rodrigues, Joint Committee on Higher Education Chairs Sen. Anne Gobi and Rep. Jeffrey Roy, and to all of our partners in the Legislature for this significant investment in the University of Massachusetts and our students and faculty.