Campaign
What kind of world do you want? Thousands of donors make impactful gifts to support their passions through the University of Ƶevery year.
Donors give to wherever it means most, often an area of the university that significantly impacted their life or the lives of loved ones. Others choose to support specific programs that they know to be impactful. And many make gifts to the areas of greatest need in a specific department, college, or campus in their community.
Over 1,800 funds support many elements of UA. With three universities (,, and) and 13 community campuses, there are many choices.
Contact us at foundation@alaska.edu to learn more about our faculty and student support, research and creative endeavors, or equipment and infrastructure opportunities at any of our departments.

Ways to Support
Donors can support any area that they are passionate about at the University of Alaska through a philanthropic gift. Our universities have notable libraries, dynamic STEM outreach programs for K-12 students, fine arts, public broadcasting, museums, athletics, and much more.
All areas can benefit from donor support. Your support is a vote of confidence in the University and we encourage donors to consider giving to the area that means the most to you.
For questions about a specific area that you would like to support at UA, please contact Megan Riebe, VP of Development, at 907-786-7746.
Endowed
You can support the University of Ƶforever with a gift to an endowment.
An endowment fund works like a permanent savings account. Unless other arrangements are made, the principal is invested and never spent. The earnings are spent and used for the specific purpose of the endowment.
When you make an endowed gift, your contribution is invested and becomes part of a pooled endowment fund. An annual distribution is made to support the purpose of your choice.
An endowment may be established to support a chair, fellowship, scholarship, professorship or any other defined use at the university.
Endowments are managed by the UA Foundation in accordance with its endowment management guidelines.
For questions about establishing these perpetual funds, please contact Megan Riebe at 907-786-7746.
Current Use Fund
You can also support the University by creating a current use fund.
A fund can be created to support a specific purpose at the University, and funds are made available to be used at any time. No portion of the fund is invested for future use, and all portions of the fund are applied to the purpose.
Donors specify the purpose for how their donations are spent, whether for scholarships, or specific departments or programs, etc. With hundreds of individual funds already established, chances are your purpose can be met with one of those.
For questions about establishing a new fund or making a gift to an existing fund, please contact Megan Riebe at 907-786-7746.
Unrestricted Funds
When you make an unrestricted gift to the University of Alaska, you provide a vital source of flexible funds that allow the President or Chancellor to seize opportunities, enhance programs or meet urgent needs.
Chancellors at each university rely annually on unrestricted funds to address the areas of greatest opportunity. Gifts of any amount can be made to existing unrestricted funds at UAA, UAF, or UAS. If you would like to create a named fund in honor or memory of a loved one, a new fund (either endowed or current use) can be created.
Simply write “unrestricted” along with the campus designation if desired on the memo line of your check or on the .
Chairs
A chair provides support for a faculty member's salary and related expenses, including research, course development and professional conferences. Chairs may be awarded for the entire length of a professor's tenure. However, most professorships and chairs have term limits, usually five years.
For questions about existing chairs or to establish a new chair, please contact Megan Riebe at 907-786-7746.
Professorships
Professorships provide support for outstanding faculty members for travel, training, equipment, and other support. Professorships can also provide income for a visiting professor to come to a campus of the University of Ƶor for a University of Alaska professor to teach at another university. These professorships allow the university to benefit from talent that would otherwise be unavailable or to share the expertise of our faculty with another university.
For questions about existing professorships or to establish a new professorship, please contact Megan Riebe at 907-786-7746.
Research
The University of Ƶis a leader in Arctic research and each of the three separately accredited universities offers a variety of opportunities for philanthropic support. Support for research can be in the form of an endowed or a non-endowed fund, and can support things like direct research expenditures, equipment, travel, graduate student salaries, and much more.
For questions about existing research funds or to establish a new fund please contact Megan Riebe at 907-786-7746.
Private gifts can help support brick and mortar construction and expansion on any of the UA campuses. With declining state revenue, future building projects will rely on alternative sources of revenue and creative partnerships.
As the leading University in Arctic research, up to date buildings and equipment are critical for preparing students for real-world jobs and for recruiting and retaining the best faculty.
Capital projects include the construction of new facilities and renovation, repair or expansion of existing facilities. They also include equipment, instruments, and software which are important for these projects to be succesful.
Donors can support capital projects through gifts to non-endowed funds. For questions about supporting capital projects at UA, please contact Megan Riebe at 907-786-7746.
The UA Foundation is home to nearly 1,000 scholarship funds that benefit students at UAA, UAF and UAS. Scholarships change lives and enrich the student body. When you fund a scholarship, you provide a meaningful opportunity to make a profound difference for individual students and for the lives those students touch as graduates of the University of Alaska. A contribution of any size will help bring more talented scholars to UA and develop students into the leaders of tomorrow.
Thanks to many generous donors, more than 1,800 scholarships were awarded to students at UAA, UAF, and UAS last academic year.
Create a Scholarship
There are a number of ways to set up a scholarship. An outright gift may be made via check or credit card. There may be significant tax benefits if the gift is made using appreciated securities, by establishing a charitable trust, or by giving real property. Will bequests can also be used to create opportunities for students.
There are two different types of scholarships that donors can establish:
Endowed Scholarships create a permanent fund. Contributions are prudently invested to ensure the scholarship retains its value in perpetuity, and the scholarships created by the endowment are funded through the income generated by the endowment.
Annual Scholarships reflect a donor’s commitment to support a scholarship for a specific number of semesters or years. Contributions are usually made and expended in the same fiscal year.
A donor may name a scholarship when the amount given meets the minimum funding requirements for an annual or endowed scholarship. Many of our donors have used this opportunity to honor a parent, professor or loved one.
A donor may also choose to give to existing scholarship funds in the department or
school of their choice. Donors are not involved in student selection, which is conducted
by the appropriate academic department.
Scholarship Naming Opportunities
Endowed Scholarship |
UAA, UAF and UAS |
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Minimum Required |
$25,000 |
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Interest Distributed for Aid |
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