Endowment
PLANning FOR THE FUTURE WITH CONFIDENCE
A growing endowment is essential for sustaining the impact of new buildings and programs into the future.
The university’s endowment, funded primarily through deferred (planned) gift commitments, provides ongoing support for students, faculty, academic programs and the university’s fiscal well-being.
Bluffton’s endowment currently includes more than 370 endowed student scholarship funds, four endowed faculty chairs, several funds for faculty research and student discovery, and funds established to provide operating support for buildings and the overall educational mission and program.
Endowment for scholarship is strengthened by people with intellectual pursuits, such
as Karl V. Schultz ’40, who is remembered through the Bluffton University Schultz
Discovery Funds.
Schultz Discovery Funds provide grants for both faculty and student research >
Faculty scholarship grants
The university now has available three endowed faculty scholarship grants, each providing one six-credit-hour release over a two-year period. These grants are made possible by generous gifts by the Trollinger, Karl V. Schultz and Naomi E. Lehman families.
Schultz faculty grant
Dr. Christopher Morrissey, assistant professor of sociology, was awarded the Karl Schultz Faculty Scholarship Grant for 2022-24. He is working on his next book project on the call to “love one’s neighbor” using the tools of sociology.
Lehman faculty grant
Dr. Martina Cucchiara, associate professor of history, was awarded the Naomi E. Lehman Faculty Scholarship
Grant for 2020-22. She is finishing her book “Bitter Times: Catholic Sisters in Hitler’s
Germany, 1933-1945.”
Prior research >
Trollinger faculty grant
The Trollinger Faculty Scholarship Grant was awarded to Dr. Amy Mullins, assistant professor of education for 2018-20. She developed an online literacy resource
for older students.
Crack the Code app >
Steps to apply for faculty scholarship grants >
Endowed scholarships
Named endowed scholarships, established by alumni, emeriti and others, are a vital
part of every Bluffton student’s financial aid package. As of 2023, there are 370
named endowed scholarships that together provide up to $470,000 annually in non-repayable
aid.
ESTABLISH A NAMED ENDOWED SCHOLARSHIP
The minimum required to establish a fully funded endowed scholarship is $25,000. Additional contributions from the original donor, friends and family are welcomed.
To establish a scholarship, donors must make an initial gift of $5,000 or more, and make a written commitment to fund the balance within four years. The scholarship will not be recognized publicly until fully funded, with the first scholarship presented 18 months later.
Donors are welcome to establish preferences for what type of student, major or hometown receive their scholarship, with the university making the final determination. For instance, the Dale and Carolyn Dickey Memorial Scholarship provides “an annual scholarship for qualified students, as deemed most appropriate by Bluffton. Preference will be given to students studying communication, religion or with an interest in ministry.”
If the scholarship is not fully funded, gifts will be added to an unnamed scholarship endowment fund.
For more information about establishing a named endowed scholarship, contact Julia Szabo, development associate, at szaboj@bluffton.edu or 419-358-3245.