Major Gifts

Major gifts to the Institute’s endowment represent the highest fundraising priority for the Institute for Advanced Study. The Institute does not have a stream of tuition income to support its annual spending, and relies on its endowment to fund approximately 80% of its annual budget. Gifts to the endowment, either restricted or unrestricted, create a permanent source of operating income, thus securing the Institute’s future and insuring the strength and vitality of its Schools and programs for future generations of scientists and scholars.

Major gifts endow Faculty and Membership positions, fund new initiatives, sustain special programs, or target special opportunities within each of the Institute’s four Schools.  In particular, permanent funding for Memberships affords visiting scholars and scientists the opportunity to freely pursue their research, unencumbered by the time constraints or pressures often present in their academic lives. Members receive stipends—in addition to an office, administrative support, library and computing access, and subsidized housing and food—that ensure a full and productive stay that is potentially pivotal for scholars in both nascent and more developed stages of their careers.

Recent funding for the School of Mathematics has directly supported Memberships and a Visiting Professorship for both junior and senior scientists. In June, Robert Fernholz, a Trustee of the Institute, and his wife Luisa, made a multiyear pledge through the Fernholz Foundation to fund the Robert and Luisa Fernholz Visiting Professorship in the School. The pledge will establish an endowment and also provide operating support. The first Robert and Luisa Fernholz Visiting Professor will be designated in the academic year 2011–12. Through the Minerva Foundation, directed by Luisa Fernholz, the Fernholzes have supported Memberships in the School since 2007, with a preference for female senior mathematicians. In 2010–11, Sophie Morel and Christine Taylor of Harvard University are supported through Minerva.

Other important funding for Memberships comes from Neil Chriss, a former Member (1994–95) in the School of Mathematics, and his wife Natasha Herron Chriss, whose support is directed to the School in recognition of their dedication and involvement. This year, through their Founder’s Circle membership in the Friends of the Institute, the Chrisses are funding the visit of Member Laurent Clozel of Université Paris-Sud 11. In addition, the Chrisses have extended a generous challenge to all former Members and Visitors—they will match, dollar for dollar, every new gift to the Institute, as well as any increase over a prior contribution, up to a total of $50,000. The Chrisses are members of the Centennial Council, which recognizes the Institute’s most generous donors. Neil Chriss is also Chair of the newly formed School of Mathematics Council, which aims to raise awareness of the work of the School and enlarge its base of support.

For more information about supporting Memberships at the Institute, please contact Catie Newcombe, Senior Development Officer, at cnewcombe@ias.edu or (609) 951-4542.

Read about other major gifts by clicking on the links below:

Karoly Simonyi Endowment Fund
Simons Center for Systems Biology
Shelby White and Leon Levy Archives Center
James D. Wolfensohn Professorship in Social Science
Andrew Mellon Foundation Fellowships for Assistant Professors in the School of Historical Studies