Advancement

Major Gifts

The Hendrix College Endowment: Providing for Today and Tomorrow

The Hendrix College endowment provides the lasting financial foundation that sustains and strengthens our mission. These funds make possible everything from student scholarships and faculty support to innovative programs that define the Hendrix liberal arts experience. Helping Hendrix remain affordable and accessible through generous scholarships funds.

When a gift is added to the endowment, it is invested and grows over time—earning income in perpetuity. Each year, that income supports the College’s highest priorities while preserving the fund’s principal for future generations.

Endowed gifts help Hendrix:

  • Keep a Hendrix education affordable and accessible through generous scholarship support.
  • Enhance academic programs and departments with annual funding to pursue innovation and excellence.
  • Ensure long-term financial stability, providing dependable income even in challenging economic times.

Endowment Giving: Opportunities That Endure

Endowed gifts allow donors to create a legacy that lasts forever. Whether supporting a favorite program, an academic department, or scholarships, these gifts provide a meaningful way to make an impact on the College and its students for generations to come.

Donors may establish new endowed funds through outright or planned gifts or contribute to funds already in existence. When creating a new fund, donors collaborate with the College to name the endowment and define its purpose. There are many ways Hendrix alumni and friends can shape the College’s future through endowed giving.

ENDOWED SCHOLARSHIPS
More than 230 endowed scholarships provide critical annual assistance to Hendrix students from all backgrounds. New scholarships are established each year with a minimum gift of $50,000, and can include preferences such as academic major, geographic region, or other criteria.

Endowed scholarships may be created by individuals, families, or groups and are often established to honor or memorialize loved ones.

James Russell Gill III and Julia Farnham McMahon Endowed Scholarship
James Russell Gill III and Julia Farnham McMahon Endowed Scholarship
  • James Russell Gill III and Julia Farnham McMahon Endowed Scholarship— preference for students from Northwest or Northeast Arkansas
  • Carole Herrick Endowed Scholarship — preference for music majors
  • James Jennings Endowed Scholarship — preference for students from Arkansas’s Delta region
  • Joyce Hardin Endowed Scholarship in Environmental Studies — preference for environmental studies majors
PROGRAM ENDOWMENTS
Program endowments strengthen Hendrix’s liberal arts traditions and enhance the co-curricular experiences that define a Hendrix education. These funds support research, travel, internships, innovative learning opportunities, and other distinctive initiatives.

Odyssey Endowments
Created with gifts of $50,000 or more, Odyssey endowments fuel student and faculty projects in research, service, and global engagement. Since 2005, Hendrix students and faculty have received over $4 million in Odyssey funding.

Miller Center for Vocation, Ethics, and Calling
Endowment support sustains the Miller Center’s mission to help students explore purpose, ethics, and service through vocational discernment, community engagement, and spiritual development.

Windgate Museum of ArtWindgate Museum at Hendrix
Endowed gifts ensure that the Museum remains a vibrant, accessible resource for the campus and the community, keeping exhibitions and programs free of charge for all visitors.

ENDOWED ODYSSEY PROFESSORSHIPS
Odyssey Professorships recognize our tradition of excellence in liberal arts and celebrate the accomplishments of our distinguished faculty. Professorships are competitive in nature and are awarded for a three-year period. The selected faculty member receives financial support to offer students new opportunities for engaged learning, such as internships, travel, and undergraduate research. These professorships are named and endowed with a gift of $500,000 and they can be established for a specific academic area or for a general purpose.
Examples include:
  • James and Emily Bost Odyssey Professorship for Global Awareness
  • Morriss and Ann Henry Odyssey Professorship for scientific exploration and discovery
  • Margaret Berry Hutton Odyssey Professorship for Christian Growth and Mission

Create a Legacy at Hendrix

Endowed gifts to Hendrix College represent an enduring investment in people, programs, and the promise of future generations.

To learn more about establishing or contributing to an endowed fund, please contact the Office of Advancement at (501) 450-1360 or advancement@hendrix.edu.