About The St. Lawrence Fund
The St. Lawrence Fund (SLF) is a dynamic annual giving fund that serves as the bridge between tuition and our endowment.
It provides a steady flow of income that enables the University to anticipate and respond to the needs of our students in a rapidly changing and challenging world. The fund keeps St. Lawrence nimble, providing critical resources for new and emerging projects, special services, and unique opportunities as they arise.
Gifts to this fund are used immediately to provide scholarships, support new academic initiatives, foster creativity, facilitate internships and experiential learning, enhance diversity, champion ingenuity, support innovation and discovery, and increase academic research. They help us sustain our vibrant liberal arts culture and offer a more profound educational experience so that every student can reach their full potential.
The hallmark of any successful institution is its ability to adapt, change and grow. Offering tangible, real-time solutions for our students' most pressing needs helps us achieve the highest levels of academic excellence and national recognition. Our agility sets St. Lawrence apart from other universities. It’s the difference between simply being well-equipped and world-class
Every Student Benefits!
Tuition doesn’t cover the full cost to educate a St. Lawrence student. The roughly $7 million that the Fund provides helps bridge the gap between where tuition ends and the endowment begins.
Gifts can be given completely unrestricted to the St. Lawrence Fund (the University uses the donation where it is needed most at the time of donation) or you can choose to designate to support budget relief to specific areas (ex. athletic teams, the arts, scholarships, study abroad, internships, etc.).
You Benefit!
As participation and annual giving increase, enabling us to provide more support, the quality of a St. Lawrence education, and thereby its reputation, increases.
Giving to St. Lawrence is a critical indicator of commitment to the University. When you participate in the St. Lawrence Fund, you are giving the University your vote of confidence. It’s one way of showing your pride in St. Lawrence while also increasing the visibility and value of your degree.
Gifts to the St. Lawrence Fund are spent in the same year in which they are received. They aren't put into a "rainy day" account for future needs. That means they need to be replenished each year.
We Do It Together!
Individual gifts of every size from alumni, parents, faculty/staff, students, and friends provide more than $7 million in annual support that has a direct and immediate impact on every student. More than 8,000 Laurentians support this dynamic fund every year.
We invite you to watch our short video on the St. Lawrence Fund:
Even though the St. Lawrence Fund is the University’s highest priority, donors often choose to support the University through gifts to grow our endowment and to fund capital projects. We like to encourage donors to maximize their impact by giving an additional gift of any size to the St. Lawrence Fund when they choose to designate their gift to an endowed fund or capital project of their choice.
The endowment is like the saving account/investment of the University. Each endowed fund must reach its goal amount before being awarded/utilized on an annual basis. Each year, the University uses around 5% of our endowed funds, to support the initiatives for which they are meant. For example, if an endowed fund has met its threshold of $125,000, it will then draw $6,250 on an annual basis for the fund of choice.
Capital projects, such as the renovations to Appleton or brick and mortar projects around campus, are another way people can choose to support the University. These projects are purely raised by donations and external funding; they are not coming out of the University’s operational budget.
We encourage donors to give their annual gift every year and increase their giving whenever possible.