The Oswego University Foundation Inc. endowment consists of gifts and the subsequent growth of these assets due to superb investment strategies over the long term, income from which provides a permanent source of financial support to benefit the students at SUNY Oswego.
Thanks to the generosity of generations of Oswego alumni, parents and friends, the university’s endowment and planned gift assets stood at approximately $89 million as of Feb. 12, 2026.
However, the large majority of those funds cannot be spent. By definition, an endowment is when a donor makes a gift with the understanding that the university will never spend the original gift, just a portion of the investment earnings. The gift exists in perpetuity — that is, forever — and benefits all generations of SUNY Oswego students and the university’s programs.
In addition, 99% of the foundation’s endowment is donor restricted to support either student scholarships, excellence funds or departmental or campus programs that support student success. Donor restrictions are stipulated in formal written agreements and verified by auditors annually.
Most often, one thinks of an endowment as the pot of money behind a scholarship. Oswego's endowment includes more than 829 individual funds, with more than 62 percent designated for student scholarships. When a generous alumnus gives a $25,000 gift to Oswego (often with a multi-year pledge) with the intention to endow a scholarship, the funds are invested. Once they generate sufficient income (usually after a year), a potential $1,000 scholarship can be awarded each year to a student meeting the donor’s criteria. The donor can designate whether the scholarship goes to a student with a certain major, or one who has overcome hardship or faces financial need.
An endowment could also create an excellence fund for an academic department, sports team or extracurricular program. The dean or director can use a portion of the accumulated earnings to bring speakers to campus, help students attend conferences and career-exploration field trips or buy needed equipment.
Donor gifts helped launch and fuel a student-run Investment Club that actively manages part of the endowed fund established by the now late Gordon A. Lenz ’58 with additional funding from Doreen Mochrie ’85 and Christopher Tuohy ’81, giving students immersive experience in financial markets and investment decision-making. This fund recently topped $1 million and continues to grow.
The Public Justice Excellence Fund, established by David Cutler ’74, helps students attend an annual scholarly conference and travel to corrections facilities to explore career opportunities in the public justice field.
Students who hope to travel abroad during college can apply for endowed scholarships such as the Louise Barwinczok Wilson '74 Scholarship, Richard J. Adago '78 Scholarship and the Thomas Jacobsen '77 Memorial Scholarship.
An endowed chair, like the Marcia Belmar Willock ’50 Chair in Finance and the Richard S. Shineman Endowed Chemistry Chair, provides funds to assist with paying the salary of a professor — usually a scholar of some renown — to teach in a particular area or department. These are but a few examples of the power of philanthropy.
The Oswego University Foundation has nearly 400 endowed funds providing more than $2.5 million in scholarship and program support back to Oswego’s students. Annually, more than 900 students benefit from just the direct awards provided by donor-endowed and unendowed scholarship funds. These are in addition to the scholarship benefits provided by the campus.
The Oswego University Foundation Board of Directors and its Investment Committee are charged with managing these endowment dollars to ensure that desired payouts are available each year and that they grow to match inflation. They have had an exceptional record in generating higher returns than our peer institutions and the average of the 657 U.S. colleges and universities and affiliated foundations who participate in a national study rating endowment performance. See related story.
Their diligent stewardship means the funds will always fulfill the donors’ wishes, benefiting generations of Oswego students and giving future donors the confidence to invest in Oswego’s mission.
Learn more about the university’s endowment.
— Submitted by University Advancement