Duke's Financial Aid Initiative Challenge

This $100 million challenge enables new gifts for financial aid endowment to be matched dollar for dollar, doubling the impact of each gift and the credit to each donor.

How will the challenge funds be distributed?

$75 million will match financial aid endowments that provide need-based aid to undergraduates

$25 million will be divided among financial aid endowments that support graduate students, professional school students, international undergraduates, and athletes

What gifts qualify for the challenge?

$100,000+ gifts establishing new unrestricted financial aid endowments (for example, a scholarship supporting undergraduates or medical students)

$250,000+ gifts establishing new restricted financial aid endowments (for example, a scholarship that gives preference to biology majors or international students or soccer players)

$100,000+ gifts to existing financial aid endowments

The maximum match available for any donor is $1 million.

What else should donors know?

Gifts from a donor's company's matching program are eligible for challenge funds.

Challenge funds for each area are limited, so funds can only be reserved with a written commitment for a qualifying gift.

Gifts supporting undergraduate merit scholarships are not eligible for challenge funds. (Most of the university's merit scholarships are adequately endowed, and the creation of new undergraduate merit scholarships is not a priority for Duke at this time.)

Click here to download the challenge guidelines in PDF format.

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