For nonprofit organizations, endowment have long been an indicator of financial health. At the recent PMBA Conference in New Orleans, Rob Hilbert, Vice President of Iowa PBS Foundation, and Lee Weinel, CFO of CET, led a conversation about the benefits of endowment building. The general consensus was that endowment funds should be a priority for most stations and yet more education is needed to jump-start this effort.

Endowments present a major opportunity for the public television system as a whole. Quite simply, endowments are funds set aside for the long-term use of nonprofit organizations. Endowments are linked to a number of financial and non-financial benefits. The most common include:

• Steady stream of financial support
• Financial equilibrium
• Program growth
• Donor belief and confidence

Despite these advantages, persistent myths have stifled endowment growth across all nonprofit sectors. The PMBA discussion group analyzed its own set of objections. The top issues include:

• Donors will stop making annual gifts.
• Donors will place tight restrictions on their gifts.
• Staff members have no time to devote to endowment building.

In this three part blog series, we will analyze the responses to these objections and share successes from stations with mature and emerging endowment funds. Join the conversation by sharing your station’s endowment building story with Tia Graham at tjgraham@pbs.org. By learning what works, the system as a whole will be able to replicate best practices and accelerate growth in the process.