Posted May 8, 2025.
All of us at the Stand Columbia Society give to Columbia because we believe in its profound potential to make a positive impact on the world. Great institutions like Columbia have the capacity to inspire change, foster understanding, and uplift humanity when they are guided by their highest ideals.
We strongly share Columbia’s commitment to civil discourse in a content-neutral environment where students and faculty can engage to the fullness of their potential. The past two years have brought challenges that tested this commitment: incidents of antisemitism, intimidation, property destruction, violence, and even expressions of support for terrorism—whose consequences after nearly a year’s delay—have left many of our alumni and friends feeling hurt, alienated, and unsure of Columbia’s path forward. We share this disappointment and dismay. Decades of goodwill have been needlessly lost, and any rebuilding of trust must start with that acknowledgment.
To those who feel disillusioned, know that the Stand Columbia Society will continue to offer reliable information and a vision of a Columbia Renewed. For those who continue to believe in Columbia’s mission, we have created this Guide to Giving to help clarify how donors can align their contributions with their values, influence the disposition of the gifts, and ensure their support strengthens the foundations of free expression, open inquiry, and generous debate.
This Guide is split into three parts: first, we’ll define some words and phrases you’ll likely hear. Second, we share some thoughts on the “structuring” of gifts. Third, we list some causes at Columbia that we believe align with our vision for a Columbia Renewed. In putting together this guide, we are indebted to our friends at the 1636 Forum, who have put together similar materials for Harvard alumni.
If you have questions, we’re here to offer confidential advice, second opinions, or tailored insights to help you give with confidence. Please feel free to contact us.
Part I: Definitions and preliminary recommendations
Restricted giving. These gifts are tied to specific purposes, ensuring alignment with your values. Nearly half of all donations in 2024 were restricted.
Best practice: Restrict your gift in order to prevent unintended usage of your gift in ways that do not align with your values.
Annual funds. Largely unrestricted pools managed by school deans to address short-term funding gaps. University leaders appreciate the flexibility as administrators have complete discretion. The annual fund often serves to top-up specific funding shortfalls to ensure program consistency from year-to-year.
Best practice: Consider balancing participation in annual funds with restricted giving, or consider designating your annual gift to a specific allocation (e.g., financial aid.)
Current use and endowed gifts. Current-use gifts fund immediate needs, while endowed gifts generate long-term support (typically 5% of principal annually). Endowments require significant investment but offer enduring impact. Endowed gifts are sizable ($100,000 to start) but provide true long-term support for Columbia, which at the moment has the second-lowest per-student endowment in the Ivy League.
Best practice: Tailor your approach based on your giving goals, but for endowed gifts, consider the governance recommendations below.
Part II: Advanced structuring
For significant contributions, structure and oversight are essential. Gifts over a certain threshold require a legally binding gift agreement, which gives donors a say over implementation. Gift agreements should be co-signed by both the intended recipient and University Development. We further recommend you consider following provisions in a gift agreement:
- Name an internal champion. Identify an (ideally tenured) faculty member aligned with your values to oversee the use of your gift for a foreseeable period. Include provisions for successors in your agreement. For confidential recommendations, please contact us.
- Ensure overhead costs are aligned. Specify that your funds can only be used for university overhead that is directly aligned with the purpose of the gift or the running of the university, versus being used to cross-subsidize other initiatives.
- Create oversight mechanisms. Select gifts above a certain size can require annual reporting, longitudinal tracking, or even advisory boards to ensure your gift delivers on its promise. If you do not have the ability to conduct oversight yourself, consider naming an external party you trust who is knowledgeable both about your cause and about Columbia to exercise oversight on your behalf. For confidential recommendations, please contact us.
- Include clawback provisions. Breaches of gift agreements can lead to litigation and in rare cases even clawbacks of gifts. Be clear and transparent on what conditions (or lack of conditions) could trigger a clawback.
Finally, include Development after you have an internal champion. The Development staff at Columbia are high-caliber professionals who care for the institution. Build a relationship with your development officer (for example, consider having quarterly calls) so they understand your values and priorities.
Part III: Contributing to a Columbia Renewed
Promoting civil discourse
Institute for Global Politics (IGP) at the School of International and Public Relations (SIPA): The IGP at SIPA has championed and role-modeled civil discourse as part of its founding mandate. Its “Across the Aisle” series have brought together figures such as Mick Mulvaney and Ron Klain (chiefs of staff to Trump and Biden, respectively) and Kathy Hochul and Larry Hogan (Democratic Governor of New York and Republican Governor of Maryland, respectively) in lively but respectful dialogue. To support the IGP, explore the options here.
Dialogues Across Difference (DxD): DxD is an initiative of the Provost’s Office that offers training for faculty in navigating difficult teaching dynamics and small grants to promote experimental programming in civil discourse. One of these grants has supported an initiative by Dr. Susan Mendelsohn and Dr. Aaron Ritzenberg of the Department of English and Comparative Literature to help students in their introductory writing classes explore what it takes to change someone’s mind… and potentially their own. To support DxD, visit the Giving site and select “Provost Discretionary Gift Fund – Faculty Seed Grant”.
Orientation Programming on Civil Discourse: The Constructive Dialogue Institute is a non-partisan non-profit co-founded by Professor Jonathan Haidt of NYU (co-author of “The Coddling of the American Mind”) that works with universities to depolarize their campuses and reintroduce civil discourse. CDI is already partnering with Harvard University in their new student orientation programming.
No such initiative currently exists at Columbia, but we would be happy to share our perspectives on what it would take to create a custom gift. Please contact us for details of the various efforts to date.
University Archives: The University Archives is part of the Rare Book and Manuscript Library. It keeps records and documents dating from Columbia’s earliest days including our 1754 Royal Charter. Often, we have cited instructive examples from Columbia’s past, on how to deal with our present challenges. To support the University Archives, visit the Giving site and select “Rare Book & Manuscript Library”.
Protecting academic freedom
Columbia Academic Freedom Council (CAFC): CAFC is a collective of hundreds of faculty and research officers dedicated to promoting open inquiry, intellectual diversity, and civil discourse. Their Statement of Responsibilities is highly sympathetic to our own vision for a Columbia Renewed. They host events for faculty, usually with high-profile guest speakers (including Professor Stephen Pinker of Harvard). An actual reaction: “It is so refreshing to have dinner with people who don’t expect me to toe an ideological line.” The leadership of the CAFC were critical the moves to endorse institutional neutrality. To support the CAFC, please visit their website.
Galileo Center: Formerly the Center for Law and Liberty, the Galileo Center takes pride in—like its namesake—convening “heterodox” voices. They have hosted talks on “ruling class monoculture” and obligations of university administrators towards academic freedom. To support the Galileo Center, please visit here, select “Other – Law School”, and write “Galileo Center.”
Attracting a top-tier student body with a “learning first” perspective
Endowed scholarships: Endowed scholarships can be far more targeted and restricted than donors realize. For example, one member of our team, while in business school, received a small endowed scholarship bequeathed by a donor who fled the Soviet Union and specified that the recipient “must not profess the doctrines of Communism.” Columbia deemed the business school an appropriate home for this scholarship. For specific (and confidential) advice, please contact us.
Yellow Ribbon Program. The School of General Studies is the top Ivy League school for veterans. These students bring valuable perspectives to classrooms and help bridge the civilian-military divide. The 9/11 GI Bill provides significant Federal government support, and the Yellow Ribbon Program on top of that permits the Department of Veterans Affairs to match aid provided by Columbia. To support the Yellow Ribbon Program and our veterans, click here and type “GS Annual Fund – Yellow Ribbon Program.” Columbia Business School also hosts a Yellow Ribbon Program, which can be found here under “Yellow Ribbon Program.”
Student activities and student life: Part of the appeal of protests to the current generation of students is the structure and “sense of belonging” in group dynamics. Columbia’s enrollment has increased by 20% over the past decade (and has doubled over the past 30 years) while student life investments have not kept pace. Furthermore, not all of these activities seek to bring our students together.
We would be happy to share our perspective on what could move the needle here. Please feel free to contact us for specific (and confidential) advice.
Columbia Athletics. Athletics provide a strong sense of community. Furthermore, we guarantee you our student-athletes are not building encampments, occupying buildings, or coordinating with terrorists. To give to Athletics, click here. Athletics has had a spectacular year. Michael Zheng won Columbia’s first national tennis title since 1906. The Women’s Basketball Team went to the NCAA playoffs the second year in a row and had its first-ever playoffs win in program history. Our football team won our first Ivy League Championship since 1961.
Recruiting and retaining a diverse and open-minded faculty
Center for Markets and Economic Growth. Center for Markets and Economic Growth. The proposed Center explores topics such as how markets contribute to economic growth, and how competition, regulation, and trade impact that contribution. It will look into policies that address recessions, as well as bring analysis to bear on controversial ideas like “degrowth”. such as the James Madison Program for American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University, the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, and the Hoover Institution at Stanford University have done much to promote intellectual pluralism. We believe there is a unique opportunity to create an intellectual home on campus for the study of markets.
The Center is currently at the proposal stage. We would be happy to share our perspective on how to successfully support it. Please contact us.
Post-doctoral fellowships: We think postdoctoral fellowships are among the most cost-effective ways to shape the future of higher education. They support early-career scholars at a pivotal moment, which translates into a new generation of faculty committed to open, rigorous, and pluralistic inquiry. Fellows immediately enrich teaching while positioning themselves for long-term leadership in academia. For specific (and confidential) advice, please contact us.
Endowed and current-use professorships: Choose subjects likely to enhance intellectual pluralism within specific schools or departments. You may also consider funding a visiting professorship on a current-use basis, such as Nadav Eyal at SIPA. While donors of course cannot choose the candidate eventually hired, they can place several forms of restrictions into the recruitment process. For specific (and confidential) advice, please contact us.
One final thought… Columbia is always evolving, and so are the opportunities to make a difference. Whether you’re interested in supporting a current initiative or creating a custom gift, we’re here to help. Reach out for personalized advice to maximize your impact.