The Founders Campaign enables Hillsdale College to secure endowments for a variety of needs, while ensuring its complete independence from both federal and state government support and regulation. To attract the best students and faculty, the following endowment goals are vital to the success of the campaign.

• Endowment funds for Undergraduate Scholarships and Loans — Hillsdale College does not accept federal taxpayer subsidies for grants, loans, and a growing list of federal aid programs—including work-study programs and the GI Bill. All merit and need-based tuition assistance awarded to Hillsdale students is supported entirely by private funding in the form of gifts, pledges or irrevocable trusts for endowed or annually remitted scholarships.
• The Independent Loan Supplement — This is a new endowed fund designed to provide Hillsdale students with low-interest loans.
• The Michigan Independence Fund — This initiative is unique to Hillsdale, and replaces grants and scholarships made available by the state of Michigan to its residents. The Campaign enables the College to partner with alumni and friends who wish to assist students displaying need and/or high academic achievement while helping to uphold a noble and historic mission founded upon two principles: excellence and independence.
• Endowments to establish Endowed Faculty Chairs — This is a primary goal of the Founders Campaign, so that the College not only provides professors with modern teaching facilities, ample sources for research, and the latest technology, but also the support for salaries that draw and retain the very finest scholars to “develop the minds and improve the hearts” of our students. The Campaign will establish 20 additional endowed chairs for both junior and senior faculty.
• Endowment for Imprimis — The College’s monthly speech digest—the largest of its kind in America—extends Hillsdale’s reach to a national base of likeminded constituents. Imprimis circulation continues to grow as a result of the Campaign. Beginning in 1972 with a list of only 1,000 alumni and friends, Imprimis readership had reached one million by the start of the Founders Campaign in 2001. Imprimis has long surpassed that milestone and is heading toward the high and ambitious goal of 2.5 million readers. Sharing ideas with thinking Americans, Imprimis is often the first point of contact for prospective students and their families. Increasing the circulation of Imprimis and building its endowment throughout the Campaign years are attainable and worthy goals our readers can help the College achieve.
• The Charles R. and Kathleen K. Hoogland Center for Teacher Excellence (CTE) — Expanding Hillsdale’s classical liberal arts curriculum and subject mastery to teachers in public and private secondary schools and home schools around the country, the Hoogland Center for Teacher Excellence began in 2001 with a small group of teachers gathered on campus to study the Declaration of Independence. The CTE has since enrolled over 2,700 individuals in over 58 seminars on campus and at national sites. Topics range from the American founding to the Constitution, and from the Civil War to the Cold War. Through the Campaign’s extension, the College is poised to raise additional funds for the CTE’s endowment.

Endowment funds that support both general operations and specific programs and projects are vital to ensuring that Hillsdale College’s future is brighter still. General endowment funding—the foundation upon which all other College operations, activities and programs rest—is a challenge to secure, but is no less important than endowment that supports specific needs. Additional endowments for specific projects include the Campus Art Acquisition Fund and the Building Maintenance Endowment.