Endowment

The Endowment is invested strategically to preserve its principal value. Payout from the Endowment supports KQED’s programs and operations. As our Endowment grows, it provides an expanding source of stable funding to help us weather the ups and downs of the economy and keep KQED strong and creative.

Please keep in mind that good estate planning requires coordinating the provisions of your will and/or living trust with all the beneficiary designations you’ve made on IRAs, life insurance policies and other financial accounts.

We understand that you may have special programming or other funding interests and may want to direct your gift in a specific way. KQED is pleased to honor your wishes.

With your Endowment gift of $250,000 or more, KQED will establish, at your request, a named Endowment bearing the name(s) you designate. In this way, the remembrance of your generous gift and/or the memory of your loved one will live on. 

Individuals and families or other groups may combine gifts over time to meet the minimum amount. While we prefer that your named Endowment gift be unrestricted so that we can direct it to our Board-Designated Endowment, you may direct your gift to our Permanent Endowment, and designate one of our Permanent Endowment Program Funds, if you wish.

The KQED Board of Directors has determined that our primary long-term Endowment management objective is to preserve purchasing power, while providing an available, stable, and constant stream of revenue to help meet KQED’s operational needs. The Board has established Investment Guidelines (PDF), which include objectives, asset allocations, performance benchmarks, and a spending rule. Endowment investment performance is regularly reviewed by the KQED Investment Committee.

The Board’s current Spending Rule for the Endowment provides that withdrawals may not exceed 5% of the Endowment’s market value averaged over the prior twelve quarters. As to Permanent Endowment, KQED Board policy is that KQED may make withdrawals only to the extent the Endowment’s value exceeds original gift value. The Board has determined that it will protect the original value of donors’ endowment gifts, even though California law permits spending of these funds under some circumstances. This policy could be modified at some future time, but it reflects our respect for our donors’ expectations that their gifts to public broadcasting will last far into the future.

When you make a current Endowment gift, you help us prepare for our future. You also give us the opportunity to thank you for your generosity and invite you to join the Jonathan C. Rice Legacy Society, where your membership will encourage others to make similar gifts.

Your Endowment gift will help ensure that future generations will continue to enjoy the same high quality public media you and millions of others have enjoyed.