Strengthen the Foundation:
Benedictine College Endowment Vital to Sustained Greatness
The value of a Benedictine College education has never been higher. Earlier this year, the college was named a Top 10 school in its category by the U.S. News & World Report for the first time in history. To put that achievement in perspective, Benedictine is the only Top 10 college or university in Kansas in any category. It is also one of only two Top 10 U.S. News schools recommended by the Cardinal Newman Society, the gold standard for faithful, authentic, Catholic higher education.
While Benedictine is at or near the top of our category in many of the measures U.S. News scores for educational greatness (academic reputation, alumni giving, graduation rate, etc.), the college ranks considerably behind our peers in one of the most critical areas: the college endowment.
The endowment is the lifeblood of an institution. It allows for scholarships to reduce financial burden, as well as to attract the best and brightest students. The endowment also provides sustained funding for enhanced academic programs and helps attract and retain top-notch faculty. Every discussion about the long-term growth and sustainability of the Benedictine College mission ultimately revolves around the necessity of dramatic growth in our endowment.
The Benedictine College endowment currently sits at $30.5 million. The average endowment for the rest of the Top 10 schools in its U.S. News category is $133.3 million. Of the Top 20 schools in our category, Benedictine’s endowment ranks 19th. The college endowment also took a significant hit with the market volatility surrounding the novel coronavirus pandemic.
“For most of our history, the college was able to rely on our living endowment—the monks and sisters of our founding religious communities who educated with no need of salaries and benefits,” said Stephen D. Minnis ’82, president of Benedictine College. “The times have changed and building the endowment has to be of the highest importance for the college to move forward.”
Benedictine College benefactors have shown tremendous generosity in pulling the endowment from dire straits in recent years. Since 2012, the college has been able to add 102 endowed funds to the endowment, including 84 scholarships. In that time, the book value of the endowment has increased by approximately $15 million.
But there is still a long way to go, and it will take tremendous effort by the entire Benedictine College community to get the endowment where it needs to be.
There are many ways to help. The easiest is to make a gift to Benedictine College in your will. Other methods include gifts of cash, stock, using your Donor Advised Fund or using a Qualified Charitable Distribution from your IRA or other investments.
Tim Andrews '88
Executive Director of Gift Planning
(913) 360-7363 | 800-766-0078
tandrews@benedictine.edu
