Women’s Athletics Excellence Endowment

In celebration of fifty years since the passing of Title IX, Utah State Athletics is excited to establish the Women’s Athletics Excellence Endowment. This endowment will directly support Utah State University’s NCAA Division I women’s sports programs on an annual basis in perpetuity. The goal of this endowment is to continue to champion our female student-athletes on and off the field of play and strengthen their ability to compete at the top of the Mountain West and proudly represent the Aggies. USU women’s sports include volleyball, soccer, gymnastics, basketball, softball, tennis, track and field and cross country.

The establishment of Title IX in 1972 ensured that no person, on the basis of sex, can be excluded from participating and receiving benefits in any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance. The impact of this has resulted in equality between men’s and women’s sports in the opportunity to play, scholarship dollars available and the treatment of all student-athletes. Title IX has been fundamental in the rise of women’s sports in college athletics and the opportunity for female student-athletes to compete in their sport at a high level and earn a degree.

• Your gift will be used only for the above-stated purpose if the required minimum endowment level of $25,000 is met by April 30, 2028.  If not met, the gift will be considered expendable towards the stated purpose. 
• The Endowment will exist in perpetuity.  If circumstances arise that render the stated purpose of the Endowment (as set forth herein) illegal, impractical, impossible, or wasteful (e.g., a change in law, the elimination of a USU program, position, or course of study, the persistent unavailability of scholarship recipients that meet the criteria, etc.); then, as set forth in this Solicitation, under such circumstances and in keeping with Utah Code 51-8-501(1), USU may designate a new purpose for the Endowment.  Any such new purpose shall be defined by USU’s President and Director of Athletics.
• The Endowment will be invested under the direction of the University Public Treasurer. Oversight and advisement of investments will be provided by the USU Investment Advisory Committee in accordance with USU’s investment policy. The USU Foundation is the legal entity designated by USU to receive charitable gifts in support of its academic mission.
• Distributions from the Endowment shall be governed by USU’s Endowment Spending Policy. The spending policy calls for an annual distribution up to 5% (currently set at 4%) of the value of the endowment account to be expended per the gift agreement. An additional 1.5% of the endowment value shall be used to fund the administration of the endowment and USU advancement efforts.  All additional gains shall be retained as appreciation and invested along with the corpus to grow the value of the Endowment over time.
• By letter dated May 21, 2008, the Internal Revenue Service has declared the USU Foundation (federal tax identification number 87-0627128), to be a duly qualified charitable organization under section 501(c)(3) and also an organization described in sections 509(a)(1) and 170(b)(1)(A)(iv) of the Internal Revenue Code.  The Foundation is a duly chartered active Utah nonprofit corporation, under the provision of Utah Code, Title 16, Chapter 6a.