Carleton's endowed funds are permanent funds that provide support for students, faculty, and programs at Carleton. Carleton's endowment generates a predictable, growing stream of income in perpetuity that sustains scholarship, research, teaching, and service programs. These funds are an irreplaceable source of quality, stability, productivity, and creativity for the College.

Carleton offers many naming opportunities for endowed funds, including:

Endowed Professorships | Campus Buildings | Endowed Scholarships | Faculty and Curriculum Development Endowments | Convocation Endowment | Headley House Endowment | Student Research Fellowships | Library Funds | Annual Fund Gift Endowments | Physical Memorials

Endowed Professorships

Full Professorship $3,000,000
Visiting Professorship $2,000,000
Faculty Program Leader $1,000,000

Carleton's professors are renowned for their commitment to quality teaching. Maintaining a superior faculty is a process requiring continuous attention, from the recruiting and nurturing of young talented teachers and to the ongoing support of experienced professors. Endowed professorships honor the person for whom they are named while providing recognition and support for excellent educators. Visiting professorships provide vital resources to support faculty leaves. Faculty Program Leader positions support essential initiatives such as Environmental and Technology Studies (ENTS), Quantitative Inquiry, Reasoning, and Knowledge (QUIRK), Cross-cultural Studies and Carleton's Writing Program.

Learn more:

• Charles “Jim” and Marjorie Kade have established a professorship in the sciences.
• A professorship in the performing arts has been created in memory of Rae Schupack Nathan ’70.

Campus Buildings

50 percent of the total construction cost

As Carleton continues to thrive and grow, new facilities must be built to keep up with that growth. Gifts directed to campus facilities are a unique way to help shape the landscape of Carleton and provide new opportunities for study, housing, and recreation that will benefit generations of students to come.

Endowed Scholarships

Full Scholarship $1,000,000
Partial Scholarship $500,000
Restricted Scholarship $250,000
Unrestricted Scholarship $100,000

Scholarship support is critical to maintaining a diverse and gifted student body. A full scholarship covers the annual comprehensive fee; a partial scholarship is designed to meet the average grant amount. Restricted scholarships allow the donor to target awards based on certain preferences, such as major or demographic criteria, and unrestricted scholarships go to students with demonstrated financial need.

As a scholarship fund grows, the award amounts given to students grow proportionately. These funds provide financial aid assistance to students in perpetuity and are recognized in the Carleton course catalog.

Learn more:

• Andrea Grove Iseminger '59 creates opportunities for off-campus studies.

Faculty and Curriculum Development Endowments

Large Faculty Development Endowed Grant $1,000,000
Targeted Opportunity Grant $250,000
Department Discretionary Fund $100,000
Program Discretionary Fund $100,000
Small Faculty Development Endowed Grant $50,000

Faculty and curriculum development funds provide opportunities for professors to remain current in their fields and encourage innovative approaches to learning and teaching. They support professors in such ventures as writing new books, creating paintings for exhibits, undertaking cutting-edge research, and making significant curricular innovations. These competitively awarded grants are administered by the dean of the college.

Large and small faculty development grants provide varying levels of support for research and development. Targeted opportunity grants fund specific research projects. Department and program discretionary funds provide support for special items or initiatives not covered under annual budget allocations.

Learn more:

• Leo Lum '69 P'98 creates funds to support Carleton faculty members who made an impact in his life.

Convocation Endowment

Term Convocation Endowment $2,000,000
Individual Convocation Endowment $250,000

The weekly convocation series is a shared experience that is at the foundation of Carleton values. Students, faculty and staff from across campus gather for one hour for a speech or performance from specialists in a variety of disciplines. The goal of the convocation series is to provoke thinking and promote discussion outside the classroom on a broad range of subjects.

The term convocation endowment supports the entire convocation series for a single term, bringing a variety of outstanding speakers, teachers and scholars to campus. The individual convocation endowment supports one of eight convocations each term.

Headley House Distinguished Visitors Endowment

$250,000 minimum

The Headley House Program for Distinguished Visitors brings to campus world leaders and thinkers who engage in small-group discussions with Carleton students, faculty and staff. Headley House, located at the edge of campus on 815 East Second Street, serves as a residence for distinguished visitors and offers an comfortable space for collegial discussion, dinners and gatherings, and group meetings. The distinguished visitors endowment supports the stay of one distinguished visitor per year.

Student Research Fellowships

$100,000 minimum

These competitively awarded grants are administered by the dean of the College. The funds support student research and related presentations, including such things as travel to conferences, project and publication expenses, and travel to research sites or libraries with special collections.

Library Collection Development Funds

$10,000 minimum

Carleton's Laurence McKinley Gould Memorial Library is at the academic heart of the College. Each year, library staff select more than 10,000 books for the library’s permanent collection of nearly one-half million volumes, and subscribe to more than 1,500 periodicals. Library funds are used to purchase, maintain, and preserve materials in all formats, providing critical educational tools for students and faculty. An endowed library fund may be named in honor or memory of an individual, and a specially designed book plate adorns each item purchased by the fund.

Annual Fund Gift Endowments

$10,000 minimum

Endowing an annual fund gift enables donors to support Carleton's Alumni Annual Fund in perpetuity, thereby helping to ensure that Carleton's operating needs are met for generations to come. Annual fund endowments can be made simply by naming Carleton as a beneficiary of a will, trust or retirement plan and notifying the College of this provision. Donors will be recognized as part of Carleton's Heywood Society for the meaningful legacy they have established through their endowed annual fund gift.

Physical Memorials

To learn more about naming opportunities or making a gift to an endowed fund, please contact the Carleton Development Office at 800-492-2275.