“The longer the lever the less perceptible its motion. It is the slowest pulsation which is the most vital. The hero then will know how to wait, as well as to make haste. All good abides with him who waiteth wisely.”
Henry David Thoreau
Sustainable progress is oft made with slow ticks of change. Marks and milestones that grab momentum, combining into an eventual swell and shift of tide. So describes the value of endowment funding, a permanent stream of support that holds its principal into perpetuity and pays out between four and five percent each year to operational or programmatic costs aligned with the donor’s intent. Endowment investments both grow in principal and generate income, and they provide a long runway for medical progress.
Impact of Endowed Funds
Generous hearts in our community have committed to endowments for decades, sustaining our mission of giving the gift of better health to all. Here’s a look at how the endowment of Southwestern Medical Foundation is advancing the work of medical education, research, and progress:
Significant philanthropy, support from the state of Texas, funding from federal and state research grants, and growing institutional revenues have brought about leading innovation since UT Southwestern began. It is impossible to imagine what the world would be like had our city leaders not made the decision to start an academic medical center.
As today’s leaders, we see the tremendous growth of our region continuing, and the need for progress in health care growing as rapidly as ever. We are focused on sustaining this work – and building our endowment has assured a continuous funding source for a critical part of UT Southwestern’s faculty, student, and research budget.
We have asked ourselves, what percentage of this large and growing mission should ultimately be endowed? What percentage of the work needs permanent support? Should we assure our region’s continued excellence in quality medicine and progress with a stable and growing funding source? We think the answer has always been ‘yes’ – because it is essential to a productive workforce and economy to have a permanent focus on our people and their health. This is fundamental to everything.
We have grown very aware that if you could give one gift and only one gift, you would no doubt give the gift of better health to those around you.
We earnestly believe in sustaining this mission over the long-term and, as leaders, in growing the capacity to meet the demands of tomorrow. Our endowment allows us to think about not just today’s needs, but also about tomorrow’s challenges and the needs of our children and grandchildren.
We are grateful always for those who have invested in the future that great innovation brings. Our donor’s endowment legacies are permanent and lasting. Their names are known to the researchers, students, faculty members, and friends – inspiring all of them forward.
Kathleen M. Gibson, President and CEO, Southwestern Medical Foundation
Investing in Forever
In 1984, a generous bequest from Pinta Huff Harris dedicated half of her $1.5 million estate, including a significant tract of land in Pecos County, Texas, to Southwestern Medical Foundation.
The estate’s assets were to be split between the Foundation and Webb School in Bell Buckle, Tennessee, which was a preparatory school where her father, Charles Chester Huff, attended. Ms. Harris set bold intention around her bequest, requesting that the estate be used and expended solely in the State of Texas for medical and scientific research in the cause, prevention, treatment, and/or cure of cancer and mental illness.
Over the years, the Pinta Huff Harris Fund for Mental Health and Cancer Research has benefitted the Fund for Molecular Research, UT Southwestern’s Distinguished Chair Campaign, and many other programs of impact. It has supported a Public Forum, highlighting leading clinical perspectives at UT Southwestern, and the Endowed Scholars Program, helping students pay for medical education and launching the careers of 109 new investigators.
Ms. Harris was a 1920 graduate of the Hockaday School in Dallas. She established a deferred gift to benefit Hockaday, and became a member of The 1913 Society, a group that honors those who have included the school in their estate plans.
A graduate from the University of Texas at Austin and a member of Pi Beta Phi sorority, Pinta Huff Harris, was a far-sighted philanthropist in life, leaving a philanthropic legacy endowing permanent and continuing progress.
If you would like to learn more about endowed giving, please contact Randy Daugherty, Director of Planned Giving, UT Southwestern Medical Center, at 214-648-3069 or randal.daugherty@utsouthwestern.edu.