Make a Gift

An endowed professorship at Stanford University is the highest honor that can be awarded to a faculty member.  An endowed professorship distinguishes the recipient as a leader in his discipline, and, in this case, at one of the most prestigious surgery clinical units in the world. It is awarded to the scientist, teacher, or scholar whose work best represents the ideals of the University and sustains its traditions of academic excellence and public service. This award would honor the individual faculty member of your choosing for the length of their professional career.  An endowed professorship within the School of Medicine at Stanford is underwritten for a donation of four million dollars or more.

Faculty scholar awards honor, encourage and support outstanding younger faculty in our department at the most critical stages of their career. Often, project or situation specific research and academic support can be critical in catalyzing the successful transition from junior to established investigator. Such awards generally last three to four years—a period of time long enough to complete substantial academic projects.  As funds allow, these awards can sequentially provide support to many new faculty in the Department. These awards can also provide bridge funding for worthy scientific projects whose primary support has ended or is being transitioned to new proposals. These named awards are available for a minimum gift of two million dollars.

Many trainees are pursuing pre- or post-doctoral research or clinical training in our department, often with uncertain financial support. Although all our trainees are encouraged to aggressively pursue project-specific funding from sources outside the Department, intense competition exists for these awards, and we are unable to offer training to many worthy applicants. For a minimum donation of one million dollars each, fellowships can endow any number of post-doctoral scholarships annually to help us continue to provide excellent research and clinical opportunities for our trainees.

If there are specific research opportunities you would like to catalyze at Stanford, we would be delighted to respond to your request. You could choose to fund one or many ongoing projects—or an entirely new project—with the assignation of financial support to be published with all documents related to the projects in question.  Unlike project-specific support from the NIH, AHA or similar organizations, unrestricted endowment income encourages new areas of exploration through start-up funds and short term grants. These are possible for a minimum donation of three hundred thousand dollars per project.

Many donors choose to make gifts of cash as a one-time donation. These are appreciated in any amount.

By spreading gifts over a period of time – typically not more than 5 years – pledges allow donors to make larger commitments and fulfill them at a comfortable pace.

Gifts of retirement plan assets, real property, and the complete range of life income gifts, including charitable remainder trusts, gift annuities, and pooled income funds are also an option.

Donors who choose to give appreciated securities can receive a charitable tax deduction for the full market value of the instruments and avoid capital gains tax.  Publicly traded securities held in a brokerage account may be transferred electronically to Stanford University.

Bequests often enable donors to give more than would have been possible during their lifetimes.  Bequests may be kept private, and they can be changed during the donor's lifetime.  Bequests are relatively easy to establish, often with just a simple addition to a will or revocable trust.  Gifts through bequests qualify for certain estate tax deductions.