How Nurse Educators Can Build an Endowment That Keeps Programs Running

What happens to a simulation lab after the grant that built it runs out? Mannequins need replacement parts, software licenses renew every year, and durable equipment wears out. Grants and one-time gifts tend to buy the hardware or fund a single scholarship cohort, then leave the upkeep to an operating budget that is already stretched.

On Oct. 13, 2026, the Miracle Riders announced a $150,000 endowment for Columbus State University's School of Nursing, earmarked for maintenance and technology upgrades across three simulation labs. It follows a $1 million fundraising commitment that bought the original equipment, and it is the running example here.

Sustaining high-fidelity simulation is now as much a funding problem as a teaching one, and the programs that plan for it are the ones building permanent funds.

How a Nursing Education Endowment Works: Principal, Payout, and Spending Rate

An endowment asks a donor to sacrifice immediate flexibility for a permanent funding stream. For nursing education, the tradeoff is usually worth it: the original principal remains invested, and the program spends only the annual distribution that the fund produces, supporting nursing program sustainability.

The core mechanics

A nursing education endowment is a permanent investment account held by a university foundation or community foundation. The gift principal is not spent. Instead, the institution draws a limited payout each year to cover scholarships, nurse faculty retention, simulation equipment maintenance, or other approved uses. The principal continues to work in the market, and the payout can grow or shrink with investment performance and policy.

Spending rate benchmarks

Most higher-education institutions target a spending rate near 4% to 5%. The most recent NACUBO-Commonfund Study of Endowments, covering 657 U.S. colleges and universities², reported a 4.9% average effective spending rate in FY2025, up from 4.8% in FY2024¹. Those distributions totaled $33.4 billion and funded about 15.2% of participating institutions' operating expenses¹. Community foundations often set a 3% to 5% annual spending range³, while many university foundations target about 5%⁴. Nursing programs housed at universities typically follow the institution's broader policy rather than setting a separate nursing-only rate. For planning purposes, nurse educators can use a conservative 4% to 5% payout assumption, then confirm the actual rate in the gift agreement.

Why smoothing matters

To keep payouts steady, many endowments use a multi-year moving average of fund value instead of a single year-end balance. That smoothing prevents a down market from immediately slashing simulation lab funding or faculty development lines. It also prevents a sudden market spike from producing an unsustainable one-year budget. Policies vary, so nursing leaders should ask the foundation how many averaging years are used and how inflation adjustments are applied before counting on a new distribution.

Endowed vs. annual gifts

An annual gift is spent in the year it is received, giving the program complete flexibility but no long-term security. An endowed gift locks in recurring support because only the payout is spent and the principal remains intact. For a nursing school, that means a simulation lab maintenance endowment can cover mannequin upgrades, software licenses, and equipment repair every year, not just the first year after a donor's check clears.

What Does a $150,000 Endowment Actually Produce Each Year?

Using the 4% to 5% spending-rate range most endowments follow, here is simple illustrative arithmetic for what different fund sizes could distribute in a typical year. A $150,000 fund, the size of the Miracle Riders gift to Columbus State, yields roughly $6,000-$7,500 a year. That is enough to keep mannequin software licensed, replace worn durable equipment, and handle routine repairs, but not enough to build a new lab. This is why endowments are best suited to upkeep, while large capital purchases need current-use gifts or university funds. Actual payouts vary with investment returns, fees, and each fund's averaging formula.

Case Study: Miracle Riders Endow Three Simulation Labs at Columbus State

From Pledge to Endowment

In 2021, the Miracle Riders, whose annual cross-country motorcycle rides raise money for Columbus State University's School of Nursing, committed to donate up to $1 million. That goal was fulfilled by October 2025. A year later, on Oct. 13, 2026, founder Scott Ressmeyer, co-owner of Country's Barbecue, announced a new $150,000 endowment at the Community Foundation of the Chattahoochee Valley. Columbus State University News covered the announcement in its article "Miracle Riders Ride Continues to Fuel Nursing Education".

The order of events is the lesson. The ride proceeds bought the equipment. The endowment is meant to keep that equipment working.

Three Labs, Four Student Pathways

Each lab traces back to a specific year of riding:

• Pediatric lab: funded by the 2022 ride, with lifelike robotic mannequins and supporting technology.
• Mother-baby lab: funded by 2023 proceeds, with similar technology.
• Neonatal lab: added after the 2024 and 2025 rides.

The clinical judgment simulation labs serve students across the School of Nursing: the BSN, the online RN-BSN, the online MSN (Nurse Educator, Nurse Informaticist, or Nurse Leader tracks), and the online FNP MSN. Dean Margie Yates of the College of Education & Health Professions has described the robotic simulators as a way to build students' confidence in bedside and patient-care skills before hospital clinical rotations, and as a trial-and-error space where faculty can mentor.

The neonatal lab also reaches beyond enrolled students. Practicing nurses, first responders, and others can train alongside CSU nursing students and mentor them.

Who Holds the Money

The Community Foundation of the Chattahoochee Valley has accepted donations on the Miracle Riders' behalf since 2015, and it will hold and manage the new fund. That gives the donors a professional steward with an existing relationship, and it spares the school from running an investment pool on its own.

The endowment is not the school's only funding source. The College of Education & Health Professions will keep funding the labs through a combination of endowment and university money. Treat endowment income as a dependable supplement to the operating budget, not a replacement for it.

What the Money Covers

The fund is aimed at maintenance and technology upgrades, not new construction. It will pay for upkeep and upgrades of mannequins, software, durable medical equipment, and accessories. It will also maintain or replace the custom Miracle Rider murals in each lab, a small detail that keeps the donors' story visible to every cohort that walks in.

Why Upkeep Outlasts the Gift

Most donors enjoy funding a new mannequin. Few think about year six and the Nursing Simulation Lab Funding it requires. Published industry estimates show how quickly the costs pile up. These are general market figures, not Columbus State's own numbers:

• Service contracts: typically 8-12% of the purchase price each year (a range of 5-15%), and 15-25% for higher vendor support tiers.¹²
• Nursing education software licensing: commonly $1,500 to $5,000 a year, with major software updates arriving every 3-5 years.¹
• Hardware life: a chassis lasts roughly 8-12 years, so replacement eventually returns as a capital problem.¹
• Total cost of ownership: about $110,000 to $130,000 over five years for a single high-fidelity simulator once maintenance, software, consumables, and faculty development are counted.³

A lab full of donated simulators becomes a growing list of recurring obligations. Without a dedicated revenue stream, those obligations compete with salaries and clinical placements, and the equipment slowly ages out.

When you approach donors, pitch the tail of the cost, not just the launch. A gift that covers maintenance, licensing, and replacement keeps the original investment useful. That is the gap the Miracle Riders endowment is built to close.

Endowed vs. Annual Scholarships and Other Fund Types

An annual scholarship is spent in full each year and stops when the donor stops giving. An endowed scholarship invests a permanent principal and awards only a portion of its earnings, so it can fund students indefinitely. Among the published foundation policies below, endowed scholarships and program endowments typically start between $50,000 and $100,000, the highest published faculty endowment level reaches $3 million, and annual scholarships can begin at $1,000 per year. Minimums vary by institution, so confirm your own foundation's levels before you approach a donor. As a rule of thumb, offer annual awards to first-time donors, endowed scholarships or equipment funds to committed individuals and civic groups, and faculty endowments to major-gift prospects.

Matching the Endowment to Your Program's Real Needs

Endowment conversations have moved from one-time naming opportunities to multi-year sustainability planning. The Columbus State sequence is a useful model: a $1 million campaign funded initial simulation technology, followed by a $150,000 endowment to maintain it. For nurse educators, the question is less whether to start an endowment than which need the payout should protect.

Choose the fund type before choosing the donor

Frame the ask around the constraint you most need to remove. - Student access: Endowed scholarships help BSN and graduate students cover tuition, especially working RNs who cannot stop earning while enrolled. - Faculty capacity: An endowed fund for a nurse educator line or nursing faculty development program can help recruitment and retention. - Teaching infrastructure: Simulation lab endowments protect high-cost mannequins, software, and durable equipment from budget cycles, a central element of nursing school facility planning.

Tailor the story by program audience

Use each audience's lived pressure. - For BSN and RN-BSN students, emphasize reducing debt and making clinical readiness affordable. - For MSN Nurse Educator Track, Informaticist, and Leader tracks, connect giving to developing the next faculty and nursing leadership pipeline. - For FNP learners, frame support around primary care access and advanced practice readiness.

Pair a one-time gift with a maintenance endowment

Do not let a simulation lab or mannequin purchase stop at installation. Ask for a capital gift to build or upgrade, then a smaller endowment to cover expected annual upkeep. The Miracle Riders' later endowment funds mannequin maintenance, software, durable medical equipment, and mural replacement, exactly the items that often go unfunded after the ribbon cutting.

Put the math in the case for support

Write the annual upkeep cost and expected payout into the proposal, not just the donor story. If a lab costs $12,000 per year to maintain and a fund pays out roughly 4 percent, donors can see why a $300,000 endowment is the right size. Specific numbers make stewardship and governance easier later.

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How to Find and Cultivate Donors, From First Gift to Endowment

The Miracle Riders spent roughly a decade giving before they established a permanent fund. Their path, from annual motorcycle-ride proceeds in 2015 to a $1 million commitment fulfilled in 2025 to a $150,000 endowment in 2026, is the pattern most nursing programs should expect: repeat gifts come first, permanence comes later. Your job is to recognize the loyal donor already in your database and invite them into the next conversation.

Map Your Prospect Pool

Start with the people who already have reason to care about your program:

• Alumni: nurses who trained on your equipment and now have the means to give back.
• Grateful patients and families: often the most motivated donors, frequently surfaced through hospital partners.
• Hospital and health-system partners: organizations that hire your graduates and benefit directly from better-prepared clinicians through academic-clinical partnership models.
• Local businesses: the Miracle Ride itself was co-founded by the co-owner of Country's Barbecue, a reminder that community employers give.
• Civic and community groups: service clubs, foundations, and riding groups that fundraise as a mission.

Treat anyone who has given more than once as an endowment prospect. A donor who funds the same need year after year is signaling they want that need met permanently; an endowment simply makes their intention structural.

Open the Conversation With a Specific Ask

Vague appeals raise vague interest. Instead, bring a concrete upkeep need (such as simulation lab equipment), a dollar figure, and a named outcome: "Our neonatal simulation mannequin software subscription runs about $X annually, and a $Y endowment would cover it in perpetuity so first-year students keep practicing before clinical rotations." Specificity signals competence and lets donors picture exactly what their gift sustains.

Raise the full menu of gift vehicles so prospects choose what fits their finances. Beyond cash, mention appreciated stock (which can sidestep capital gains), bequests through a will, and qualified charitable distributions from an IRA. Many donors give more generously once they learn a non-cash option exists.

Bring Your Foundation in Early

Connect with your university foundation or a community foundation before a donor asks who holds the money. The Community Foundation of the Chattahoochee Valley accepted Miracle Rider donations for years before stewarding their endowment, which meant the infrastructure was ready when the gift matured. Having a named steward and gift-acceptance process in place lets you answer the hard questions on the spot rather than losing momentum.

Tax Benefits Donors Can Claim on Endowment Gifts

Short answer: endowment gifts can earn a federal income-tax deduction for donors who itemize, and gifts of appreciated stock can also avoid capital gains tax. Which benefit applies depends on the asset, the gift vehicle, and the donor's own tax picture.

The Itemized Deduction and AGI Limits

For 2026, charitable deductions generally require itemizing.¹ Under IRS Publication 526, cash gifts to qualifying public charities can be deducted up to 60% of adjusted gross income (AGI).¹ Appreciated long-term capital gain property, meaning assets held more than one year, is generally capped at 30% of AGI when deducted at fair market value.¹ Other recipients, property types, or elections to deduct only basis can bring different limits. Anything above the cap generally carries forward for up to five later years, still subject to the percentage limits each year.¹

Why Appreciated Stock Is Often the Better Gift

When a donor gives long-term appreciated stock directly, the donor generally avoids capital gains tax on the growth and may deduct the fair market value, subject to the 30% limit.¹ Selling first and gifting the cash would trigger the gain and shrink the gift. For a donor eyeing a simulation lab endowment, that difference can be meaningful when paired with Nursing Education Grant Writing.

Bequests, QCDs, and Donor-Advised Funds

• Bequests: A gift in a will is not a lifetime income-tax deduction. Property passing to a qualifying charity at death may qualify for an estate-tax charitable deduction. Bequests can fund an endowment.
• Qualified charitable distributions (QCDs): Donors generally age 70½ or older can direct an IRA distribution straight to a charity.² The amount is excluded from income rather than itemized, and it can count toward a required minimum distribution. The 2025 exclusion limit was $108,000,³ and a separate 2026 figure should be confirmed with the IRS. QCDs cannot go to donor-advised funds or private foundations, so they suit an endowment held directly at a charity or community foundation fund, not a DAF.
• Donor-advised fund (DAF) grants: The donor deducts when contributing to the DAF sponsor, within the same 60% and 30% limits.¹ A later grant to your program is not a second deduction. A DAF grant can seed an endowment if the receiving fund's policies allow it.

A Caution Before Anyone Gives

This is general information, not tax advice. Rules change, and details vary by donor, so encourage every prospective donor to consult a tax advisor and review current IRS guidance, including Publication 526.¹

Gift Acceptance Policies, UPMIFA, and Choosing a Steward

A nursing program should never promise a donor anything until the institution has agreed in writing that it can keep the promise. That agreement lives in the gift acceptance policy, and it protects you as much as the university.

Why a Written Policy Matters

A good policy sets minimums for naming an endowment, spells out how restricted gifts are handled, and lists what the institution will decline. The published policies of several universities show the pattern. The University of Denver requires mission alignment, legal and financial compliance, no undue financial burden, and restrictions that are broad and flexible.¹ American University does not accept excessively restrictive gifts.² UNC Pembroke prohibits donors from retaining control over gifted assets.³ UNC Chapel Hill flags restrictions that designate an investment vehicle or an individual scholarship recipient.⁴ The University of San Francisco requires prior approval for assets such as closely held stock, restricted stock, and limited partnership interests.⁵ Shenandoah University weighs mission, tax-exempt status, risk, liability, reputation, academic freedom, and capacity.⁶

For a simulation lab fund, that means writing the purpose broadly enough to cover maintenance, software, and replacement equipment as technology changes.

What UPMIFA Means in Plain Terms

The Uniform Prudent Management of Institutional Funds Act governs donor-restricted endowment funds.⁴ Two ideas matter most. First, donor restrictions are binding, so money given for simulation equipment cannot quietly drift to another use.⁴ Second, spending is judged by prudence, not a fixed formula. UPMIFA sets no mandatory payout percentage.⁴ Stewards must act as an ordinarily prudent person would, weighing duration, purposes, economic conditions, inflation, total return, other resources, investment policy, and donor restrictions.⁴

Community Foundation or University Foundation?

The Columbus State case used a community foundation, which has held the Miracle Riders' gifts since 2015. Compare your options on four points:

• Fees: Ask each steward for its administrative and investment fee schedule in writing.
• Investment pools: Both typically invest endowments in pooled portfolios. Ask how the pool is managed and reported.
• Donor advising: Community foundations often offer donor-advised options. University foundations may offer less of this.
• Flexibility: Ask how each handles changing needs, such as redirecting funds if a lab closes.

Before You Promise Anything

Bring your development office and legal counsel in first. They know the minimums, the approved vehicles, and the wording that survives audits. This is general information, not legal advice.

Stewardship After the Gift: Reporting, Recognition, and Governance

Stewardship shows a donor what their gift did and honors the terms they set. Because donors who see results tend to give again and tell peers, stewardship also makes the next gift likely.

How Donors Verify Funds Are Used as Intended

Donors confirm use through three documents: an annual fund statement showing beginning balance, gifts, investment return, payout, and ending balance; a payout report listing what the distribution paid for; and a one-page impact summary in plain language. When a community foundation holds the fund, as the Community Foundation of the Chattahoochee Valley does for the Miracle Riders endowment, the foundation typically produces the financial statement, while your program supplies the story.

Track program-level numbers all year so the summary writes itself:

• Simulation hours: scheduled lab time by course and track.
• Students served: headcount across BSN, RN-BSN, MSN, and FNP cohorts.
• Equipment refreshed: mannequins, software licenses, and durable equipment repaired or replaced.

Recognition That Fits the Gift

Match recognition to the donor's motivation. The Miracle Riders endowment maintains the custom Miracle Rider murals in each of the three simulation labs, which keeps the donors' identity visible where students train. Add lab tours so donors can watch students work with the simulators, and have students write short thank-you notes describing a skill they practiced. Specific notes land better than generic ones.

Governance: Approvals, Restrictions, and Obsolescence

Put the rules in writing before the first payout, just as you would with a nursing program approval process:

• Spending approval: name the role, such as the dean or a small advisory group, that proposes spending, and the steward that confirms it fits the fund's purpose.
• Restrictions: record the purpose in the gift agreement and fund document so staff turnover does not erase intent.
• Obsolete purposes: include a clause that lets the steward redirect funds to the closest purpose if the original need disappears, for example if a lab is retired.

Review the agreement with your advancement office and the steward each year to maintain nursing education program compliance, and send the donor the results.

Your Next Steps: A Fundraising Checklist for Nurse Educators

Use this list to move from idea to signed gift agreement. Work through it in order, and loop in your foundation office early.

1. Price one real need

   Pick a single upkeep or scholarship need, such as replacing mannequins or simulation software, and attach an annual cost so donors see exactly what their gift sustains.
2. Confirm the rules

   Ask your foundation office for the gift acceptance policy and the minimum needed to establish an endowed fund.
3. Choose a steward

   Decide whether a university or community foundation will hold the fund, and agree in writing on the spending policy.
4. List five prospects

   Identify five existing donors, alumni, or community partners whose giving history suggests endowment potential.
5. Write a one-page case

   Tie the request to outcomes in your BSN, RN-BSN, MSN, or FNP programs, like pre-clinical confidence or graduate readiness.
6. Point donors to advisors

   Encourage every donor to review gift vehicles with their own tax advisor before committing.
7. Plan stewardship first

   Set up reporting schedules and recognition terms before the gift closes, not after.