Legacy Fund

What is the Legacy Fund?

The University of Illinois Legacy Fund is an endowment-like tool that provides ongoing financial support to U of I InterVarsity. Yearly interest income helps us recruit and retain high-potential staff at U of I, especially those from limited-network backgrounds (e.g., staff from ethnic minority communities, rural communities, or non-Christian backgrounds).

Why is it needed?

The University of Illinois is immensely strategic campus to maintain a strong InterVarsity presence. Not only is the U of I a world-class institution, our chapters produce staff that serve all over the country.
Building strong, stable chapters requires gifted, long-term staff. Each year good candidates cannot be considered because they do not have enough contacts to fund their ministry. Others start with InterVarsity, but their fundraising stalls before it provide long-term support. As the chapters grow in size and diversity, this problem will become more common.

What are the funds used for?

The primary use of the Legacy Fund income will be grants that match new ongoing giving. While one-time grants are sometimes necessary to help staff stay in the game, our aim is to motivate both potential donors and staff as they work to establish new funding networks. This will give us two strategic opportunities:

Retaining excellent but under-funded veteran staff

About half of our veteran staff never reach full funding. Once they reach the end of their existing home network, their progress can stall, as building new networks takes time.

Hiring gifted, limited-network staff

Staff candidates from non-Christian backgrounds, rural communities, or ethnic minority communities unfamiliar with InterVarsity often need a longer time frame to build networks and raise ministry support. As the campus becomes increasingly diverse and secular, we need to hire and retain staff from these backgrounds to reach the unreached corners and communities of our mission field.

Gift Options

Gifts to the Fund are tax-deductible and can be made as:

A one-time gift
A monthly or annual recurring gift
An estate gift from a will, trust or retirement plan
An asset-transfer gift
(property, life insurance, business ownership, etc.)