Your Contribution's Growth

The Steward50 priorities are supporting the endowment (70%), capital expenses (20%), and the annual fund (10%). We are focused on:

• Providing additional scholarships and funding for Variable Tuition
• Growing the diversity of faculty and staff
• Building financial stability
• Improving buildings and grounds
• Enhancing excellence in academics, arts, and athletics

We are prioritizing endowment in the Steward50 campaign because these gifts will continue to support the school for years to come. Steward has partnered with Spider Management for the past nine years (and plans to continue to do so) to manage our current endowment, with the goal of preserving our endowment into perpetuity while generating investment returns for current spending needs.

Spider Management, owned by the University of Richmond, is the only university-owned investment firm that offers its services exclusively to non-affiliated endowments and foundations. Through this partnership with Spider Management and additional philanthropic gifts from our community over the last 10 years, the school’s current endowment has grown by 48% to $14.8 million at Dec. 31, 2019. For the fiscal year ending June 30, 2020, the return on the portfolio since initial investment was 6.7%. In the chart below, we have estimated the future value of an endowment gift based on our historical results.

The Steward School’s endowment supports the annual operations of the school through an annual contribution of 4% from the unrestricted portion of the endowment. This amounts to over $400,000 annually to support such school operations including faculty professional development, Variable Tuition, and student programs. In addition to this contribution, the restricted portion of the endowment supports a number of scholarships including merit grants, the Debbie Robson Merit Scholarship, and health and wellness programs.