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Endowment and Gift Donation Overview

Gifts to the Aquatic Animal Health Program may be used in one of two ways: the entire amount of the gift may be spent directly for its intended purpose or the principal may be invested to create a permanent endowment. In the latter case, the endowment principal is invested by the University of Florida Foundation, which pays out 4-5% of the principal amount annually for the purpose of the endowment, with any excess earnings used to grow the principal. Universities nationwide have found that such a conservative payout policy results in an endowment that stays ahead of inflation over the long term. This ensures that your gift will continue to benefit generations to come.

The state of Florida provides up to a dollar for dollar match for major endowments. Gifts over $2 million that are intended to provide permanent income are matched dollar for dollar by the state of Florida, thereby doubling the impact of the donor's generosity. Florida also will provide a 50% match for a gift of at least $100,000, a 60% match for gifts over $600,000 and a 75% match for a gift over $1 million. Gifts of less than $100,000 but at least $30,000 may be used as permanent endowments that generate annual income for the intended purposes but they do not qualify for matching funds from the state of Florida. For gifts of less than $30,000, the principal is put to use immediately for its intended purpose, but these gifts do not generate recurring income. However, multiple gifts for a common purpose may be pooled with the permission of the donors to qualify the combined amount for matching funds and/or endowment status.

Named Endowments: The donor of an endowment is granted the privilege of having a name of their choosing associated with the endowment and/or the endowed program or activity, such as a named professorship, laboratory or scholarship.

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Endowed Professorships

We are seeking gifts of $2,000,001 each for the following endowed professorships in Aquatic Animal Health. Each gift is matched dollar for dollar by the state of Florida and is used to support a faculty position in the designated discipline.

  • Marine Mammal Health (2 professorships sought in this category)- Each professorship will support a new faculty position to provide clinical care, research, training and/or outreach related to the health of marine mammals with emphasis on the Florida manatee. These can be a Named Endowment at the donor's request.
  • Fish Health (2 professorships sought in this category)- Each professorship will support a new faculty position to provide clinical care, research, training and/or outreach related to the health of marine and freshwater fish with emphasis on species native to Florida or those of significance to Florida's aquaculture industries. These can be a Named Endowment at the donor's request.
  • Sea Turtle Health- This will support new faculty position to provide clinical care, research, training and/or outreach related to the health of marine mammals with emphasis on species native to Florida. This can be a Named Endowment at the donor's request.
  • Aquatic Environmental Health- This will support a new faculty position to provide research, training and/or outreach related to the health of the many and diverse aquatic environments of Florida. This can be a Named Endowment at the donor's request.
  • Aquatic Animal Stranding Response Coordinator- This will support a new faculty position and provide core infrastructure for the UF Stranding Response Team. This team responds to marine mammals, sea turtles, and other aquatic animal emergencies such as oil spills or other environmental catastrophes. This can be a Named Endowment at the donor's request.
  • Aquatic Bird Health- This will support a new faculty position to provide clinical care, research, training and/or outreach related to the health of aquatic birds with emphasis on species native to Florida. This can be a Named Endowment at the donor's request.
  • Aquatic Invertebrate Health- This will support a new faculty position to provide clinical care, research, training and/or outreach related to the health of marine and freshwater invertebrates with emphasis on species native to Florida or those of significance to Florida's aquaculture industries. This can be a Named Endowment at the donor's request.

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Teaching Related Endowments

  • Clinical Residency in Aquatic Animal Health (more than 1 can be funded) ($500,000)- The gift will provide permanent funding to support veterinarians while they pursue three years of advanced clinical training in the field of Aquatic Animal Health leading to formal board certification in that specialty. This can be a Named Endowment at the donor’s request.
  • Graduate Student in Aquatic Animal Health (more than 1 can be funded) ($500,000)- The gift will provide permanent funding to provide a stipend and tuition payment for a graduate student (M.S. or Ph.D.) training position in the field of Aquatic Animal Health. This can be a Named Endowment at the donor’s request.
  • Endow the SeaVet and Fish Medicine courses (1 per course: SeaVet I, SeaVet II, Diseases of Warmwater Fish, & Advanced Fish Medicine) ($100,000)- The endowment will provide permanent funding to support the cost of providing expensive specialized veterinary courses covering aquatic megavertebrates (marine mammals, sea turtles, aquatic birds and crocodilians) or fish.

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Other Gifts

  • Genomics- We are seeking non-endowment gifts of $100,000 each to support the sequencing of the manatee genome and the American alligator genome.
  • International Visiting Scholars- We are seeking gifts of $6,000 to $15,000 each to support the expenses incurred by visiting scholars from outside the United States who come to the UF Aquatic Animal Health Program for non-degree seeking periods of study, typically of 3-12 months duration. This program is intended to assist international scholars by providing up to $3,000 towards travel expenses and $1,000 per month towards living expenses while in the U.S. Donors may specify that the supported scholar come from a particular country or region. The entire program may be permanently endowed by a gift of $250,000, which can be a Named Endowment at the donor’s request.
  • Summer Research Participation in Aquatic Animal Health (more than 1 can be funded)- The University of Florida offers both DVM and undergraduate students the opportunity to participate in a 10-week-long research experience program in Aquatic Animal Health. Each student will conduct a small research project during the summer. These gifts are intended to support the summer living expenses of the participating students as follows:
    • Undergraduate students at $4,000 each or permanently endow one annually recurring position with a gift of $100,000
    • DVM students at $5,000 each or permanently endow one annually recurring position with a gift of $125,000
  • Clinical Externships in Aquatic Animal Health- These externships will support travel and living expenses for third and fourth year veterinary students while they gain one month of clinical experience caring for aquatic animals at selected zoos, oceanaria, aquaria and related facilities. The program supports University of Florida veterinary students for externship training at any approved facility in the U.S. or overseas and non-UF veterinary students for externship training at any approved Florida institution.

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Contact Information

If you are interested in exploring these opportunities to support our programs please contact:

Charles H. Courtney, DVM, PhD
Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies
College of Veterinary Medicine
Box 100125
University of Florida
Gainesville, FL 32610-0125
(352) 392-2213 ext 5111
FAX: (352) 392-8351
Email: courtneyc@vetmed.ufl.edu

or

Peter Anderson, PhD
Director of the Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience
9505 Ocean Shore Blvd.
St. Augustine, FL 32080
(352) 461-4000
FAX: (904) 461-4052
Email: paa@whitney.ufl.edu

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Previous donations:

Thank you to all who have contributed to the Aquatic Animal Health Program. We really appreciate it!

Special thanks to:

 

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