Naming Opportunities

Development Programs > Naming Opportunities

Endowments for Excellence

Since its founding, Notre Dame has thrived under the aegis of benefactors who found their own interests and values reflected in the University’s mission. Today, these connections have been formalized through the Endowments for Excellence program, which allows benefactors to endow an area of the University that holds particular significance for them.

Endowments for Excellence are designed to enhance the work of a particular college, school, center, institute, academic department, or other unit of the University. They may be named at the following levels:

• Premier: $5,000,000
• Presidential: $1,000,000
• Distinguished: $500,000
• Prize: $250,000
• Named: $100,000

Endowments for Excellence will be named at the behest of the donor: for example, the Lucille and Paul O’Brien Endowment for Excellence in Environmental Sciences.

With the consent of the donor, appropriate recognition will be offered, including the display of the benefactor’s name on the Endowments for Excellence Recognition Wall in the Main Building, annual reports, and invitations to special recognition events.

Our generous benefactors have already created Endowments for Excellence in support of Campus Ministry, international study programs, Summer Shakespeare, lecture series, the Department of Classics, and women in engineering, to name but a partial list.

Representatives of the University will be happy to discuss with you the ways in which your Endowment for Excellence might benefit an area of particular need at Notre Dame.

To learn more, please contact us.