Endowed Scholarships

Endowed scholarships are established and named by individual donors wishing to provide perpetual assistance to Belhaven students. Scholarships are awarded by the Office of Student Financial Aid in accordance with the criteria established by the donor.

Endowed scholarships are designed to preserve and grow the original principal by paying out minimal scholarship amounts each academic year and accumulating any excess earnings.

Minimum Contribution: $10,000

Following the establishment of an Endowed Scholarship, donors will receive annual reports highlighting the endowment performance and along with the names of students that received the scholarship in the previous academic year.

Frequently Asked Questions about Endowments

1. A named endowment fund is an irrevocable gift to Belhaven University in which the principal is to remain intact in perpetuity and the annual earning are used to support scholarships and other forms of academic excellence for Belhaven.
2. Endowment funds are invested by the Belhaven University’s Board of Trustees’ Finance Committee and managed to produce the greatest annual return while balancing principal safety.
3. The minimum level is $10,000 to participate in the investment pool. This amount can be donated all at once or over multiple years. Until the $10,000 threshold is reached, the endowed scholarship will not be able to be awarded.
4. The minimum corpus of $10,000 must cycle through a complete fiscal year before it is possible to award a scholarship. For example, Belhaven’s fiscal year runs July 1 – June 30. An endowment established in September of 2023 would not be able to be awarded until July 2025 for the 2025-2026 academic year. Additional monies may be placed in a temporarily restricted account should the donor desire the scholarship to be awarded before the above period has passed.
5. Belhaven does not charge management fees for maintaining endowed scholarships.
6. Endowments are designed to remain intact in perpetuity, and awards are based on the earnings of the fund. Any unused portion of the earnings is reinvested into the endowment.
7. The donor and the University enter into a formal Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) upon the establishment of each endowment. This agreement is essential to ensure that the donor’s intent for these funds is adhered to in future periods. Since these funds are held in perpetuity, the MOA helps to ensure the future administrators of the endowment clearly understand the purpose of the endowment allowing for compliance with its stipulations.
8. Donors often request specialized criteria and qualifications for an award, and the University has the right to deny requests that do not fit with the character and mission of Belhaven. It is recommended that endowment criteria not be so narrow as to render the endowment unable to be awarded. It is our experience that endowments specifying recipients from certain geographic areas (i.e. cities, counties, or parishes) are difficult to award from year to year.
9. The Endowment Awarding Committee awards eligible endowments each year.
10. Donors are provided with a yearly summary of endowment performance and will receive contact from the scholarship recipient.

For More Information Contact:

Sheri Anderson
601-968-8719 / sanderson@belhaven.edu
1500 Peachtree Street, Campus Box 158
Jackson, MS 3920