FAQ

Endowments provide permanent, sustainable funding for scholarships and programs at WWU. Annual awards are distributed out of this account in perpetuity via an allocation from the interest earnings each year. The typical allocation from an endowment is 4% at WWU. Interest earned above this amount is reinvested into the endowed scholarship fund to help it grow, minus a 1.5% gift assessment and a .30% investment management fee to help with administration of the fund. A minimum of $25,000 is required at Western Washington University to establish an endowed scholarship, which would provide a $1,000 award and grow over time. The larger the endowment, the larger the annual award. If the initial intent is to establish an endowment, gifts can be made over five years after the establishment of the account to allow donations to total $25,000 or more.

Thank you for considering establishing a scholarship! Please contact Director of Development, Annual Giving, and Memberships Fred Gold at fred.gold@wwu.edu or by phone at (360) 650-6464.

Please feel free to reach out to us with your question by emailing giving@wwu.edu or by phone at (360) 650-3027, thank you!

The President’s Society recognizes donors who make annual gifts totaling $1,000 or more each year. If you would like to learn more about becoming a member of the President’s Society, please contact Director of Annual Giving Fred Gold at fred.gold@wwu.edu or by phone at (360) 650-6464.

The Old Main Society recognizes donors for their future gifts to Western through their estate plans or other planned giving options. Recognition as an Old Main Society member begins as soon as donors sign documentation naming Western as a beneficiary. Gifts to the university may come through a bequest, trust, annuity, or life insurance program. If you would like to learn more about becoming a member of the Old Main Society, please contact Matt Hammatt, Director of Planned Giving at Matt.Hammatt@wwu.edu or at (360) 650-2443.

The 1893 Society recognizes donors who have given $25,000 or more over their lifetime. If you would like to learn more about becoming a member of the 1893 Society, please contact Mark.Bagley@wwu.edu.

Yes. Using Western’s secure online giving page, you can specify which fund you’d like to support with your gift.

To choose which fund you’d like to support, please visit wwu.edu/give and select the “Search for a Support Area” button near the top of the page. You can then select your support area from the list of displayed funds.

If you have additional questions about making your gift to Western, please contact us by email at giving@wwu.edu or by phone at (360) 650-3027.

If you are making your gift using Western’s secure online giving page and the area you’d like to support isn’t listed among the options displayed, please select the “My support area isn’t listed” checkbox under the list of fund options. A new text box will appear where you can describe the area you’d like to support with your gift.

If you have additional questions about making your gift to Western, please contact us by email at giving@wwu.edu or by phone at (360) 650-3027.

Thank you for choosing to include Western in your estate plans! Please contact Matt Hammatt, Director of Planned Giving to learn more about making a gift to Western through your will/estate plans. Matt can be reached by email at Matt.Hammatt@wwu.edu and by phone at (360) 650-2443.

As a Western employee, you can make your gift directly through payroll. A specified amount will be deducted from your paycheck each pay period (minimum of $5) and directed to the area you’d like to support with your payroll deduction gift. To begin, change, or update your payroll deduction gift, please use this e-sign form.

To cancel your existing payroll deduction gift, please use this e-sign form.

If you have additional questions about making a gift to Western through payroll, please contact us by email at giving@wwu.edu or by phone at (360) 650-3027.

There are many ways to make a gift to Western. The most popular way to make a gift is through Western’s secure online giving page, which can be found at this link: wwu.edu/give.

If you would like to see a full list of ways you can make a gift to Western, please visit this link: foundation.wwu.edu/how-make-gift

The easiest way to set up a recurring or monthly gift to Western is by using Western’s secure online giving page. To make a recurring or monthly gift to Western, please visit wwu.edu/give and choose the “Monthly Gift” option near the top of the page.

If you have additional questions about setting up a recurring or monthly gift to Western, please contact us by email at forwestern@wwu.edu or by phone at (360) 650-3027.

VikingFunder is Western’s crowd funding platform where anyone in the Viking Community can approach us with a campaign idea and we can try to come together to make a difference for our students. Check it out today at vikingfunder.com! 

Although Western is a public institution and receives state funding for academic programs, it is only a fraction of what is really needed to run the university. Your gift to your favorite college, department, scholarship, or other program will allow Western to weather uncertain financial times.

Absolutely. It is easy to think that a small donation goes unnoticed, but your gift, no matter the amount, is crucial to ensuring student success at Western. It often only takes a little help to make up the difference for a student to stay in school or cover a new piece of equipment that will revolutionize a student's research. Your gift alone can make a difference, and combined with others like yours, can make waves.

The Foundation for WWU & Alumni was formed in 1966 with the sole mission of raising money for the advancement of WWU  students. The Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization (EIN 91-6073519).

Yes. Typically, this will be in the form of an email that comes immediately after you complete your donation. Please let us know at giving@wwu.edu if you need record of any gift you made to WWU.

Absolutely. You can request to have your name be anonymous when you make a gift to Western. If you are making your gift using Western’s secure online giving form, you can indicate this preference at the bottom of the form by selecting the “Please do not publish my name on donor lists” checkbox. If you are mailing in a gift, just include a note somewhere that you would like to be kept anonymous and we will do so.

The easiest way is to use our secure online giving page at wwu.edu/give and checking the box, “This is an honorary or memorial gift”. You can also specify that a gift is in memorial or honorary on VikingFunder during the checkout process. If you are mailing your gift to Western, you can include a note mentioning who the gift is in honor or in memory of.

You can find out if your employer will match your gift by using Western’s integrated matching gift lookup. This is located within Western’s secure online giving page at wwu.edu/give. To access the lookup tool, select the “My employer will match my gift” checkbox and follow the stated prompts.

If you have additional questions about whether your employer will match your gift to Western, please contact us by email at forwestern@wwu.edu or by phone at (360) 650-3027.

If you attended Western as a student, you can login to your web4u account created when you enrolled from mywestern.wwu.edu/. Once logged in, click personal information and then select what you would like to update.

If you did not attend Western as a student, you can email us at forwestern@wwu.edu to update your information or call us at (360) 650-3027. Also, if you are called by one of our engagement center students that is a good time to make sure all your info is up to date!

The WWU Alumni Association is a community of Western supporters who aim to pay forward the opportunities that they were provided when they were students. They support the local community and current students through scholarships, networking, events, and more.

The Foundation is funded through a combination of mechanisms, including university funding, unrestricted gifts, and fundraising. As of July 2024, as is customary with universities and other non-profit organizations, The Foundation will assess a 5.0% advancement fee to all current use gifts.

The advancement fee is a one-time 5.0% assessment on each current use gift.

The advancement fee will increase The Foundation’s capacity to raise private funds to support the students and the mission of WWU. The university community benefits directly from private support, and this fee will help offset the operating costs necessary to ensure strong fundraising efforts into the future.

Upon receipt of a gift, the Foundation will deduct the one-time 5% advancement fee from the amount gifted.

Most universities apply some kind of processing or administrative assessment. WWU’s 5% fee is slightly lower than the national average; at other institutions, fees generally range from 4% to 10%.

The advancement fee does not affect the tax deductibility of gifts and you will receive full credit for the total contributed amount.

Endowed funds are already subject to a 1.5% gift assessment and will not be subject to the advancement fee.

No gift assessment will be made on payments made against pledge commitments entered into prior to July 1, 2024.  New pledge commitments entered into after July 1 will be subject to the fee at the time pledge payments are made.

The advancement fee applies to gifts made by credit card.

The advancement fee will apply to donations of shares of stock.

Unless the non-cash donation is sold, with net proceeds going to The Foundation, the advancement fee will not apply. If an in-kind, non-cash or real estate asset is sold and the net proceeds benefit WWU, then the administrative assessment will be collected from the net proceeds received in the sale of that item.

The paid alumni membership program will cease to operate on 6/30/24, and memberships will no longer be sold after 6/30/23. But don’t worry! There are plenty of ways you can stay involved. Read on!

The Foundation voted to merge into one organization: The Foundation for WWU & Alumni. Removing the operational need to run a paid membership program means we have more resources available to build exciting and engaging programming for all our alumni that helps you build a stronger relationship with your alma mater. Stay tuned for more opportunities to get engaged!

You can give your time, talents, or treasure! Volunteering, mentoring current students, and making philanthropic gifts are great ways to continue supporting the University.

Ways to give your time and talents:

• The Foundation for WWU & Alumni: The Foundation offers a variety of volunteer opportunities, such as mentoring current students, hosting events, and serving on committees. Reach out to alumni@wwu.edu for more information.
• Career Services: Career Services at Western Washington University offers opportunities for alumni to participate in career fairs and networking events or host job shadows and internships. Reach out to careers@wwu.edu for more information.
• Community Engagement: Western Washington University has a Center for Community Learning that connects volunteers with various organizations in the Bellingham area for volunteer opportunities. For more information, visit their homepage here.
• Western Advocates: Western Advocates is a coalition of alumni and other friends of Western working to ensure that higher education is a priority in Washington State. Learn more by visiting their website.

Ways to give your treasure:

• Make a Gift! Check out our gift page here!

Current annual members will continue to have access to their membership benefits until 6/30/24 regardless of their expiration date and for no additional cost. This is our way of saying thank you for being a member. If you would like to make an additional financial contribution to help support WWU, you are welcome to do so here.

As a way to say thank you for being a lifetime member, current lifetime members will continue to receive on-campus access to the Western Libraries, access to the Lakewood Watersports Facility and a 20% discount at the bookstore.

Western Washington University will continue to offer a variety of ways for alumni to stay connected, including through social media, email newsletters, Window magazine and events. We encourage all alumni to stay engaged with the Western Washington University community through these channels.

We also have a variety of volunteering opportunities available (see above!) if you’d like to stay connected that way.

You can update your contact information by emailing alumni@wwu.edu or calling (360) 650-3027.  You can also submit a class note and let us know what you’ve been up to at window@wwu.edu. We’d love to hear from you!

Your ability to purchase a membership at Wade King Student Rec Center won't change. Once the paid membership program ends, the WKSRC will open the ability to purchase memberships to all degreed alumni.

Life Members and President's Society donors retain access to Lakewood. Other alumni who wish to access the facility can purchase an annual Friends of Lakewood membership on their website. If you are a recent graduate (within the past 5 years) you would also get a 50% discount, paying only $30 for the membership as opposed to $60. This membership allows you to maintain access to Lakewood for the rest of the calendar year but does not include rental costs, meaning that you would still be charged the cost of renting our equipment per visit.

Another option is to purchase a day pass, which would be done at the boathouse desk along with your rental charges when you come down to Lakewood. This day pass is $15 for the day. If you plan on visiting Lakewood more than one time this summer, we would recommend purchasing the Friends of Lakewood membership as it is a better deal!

Individuals who previously purchased a life membership will retain this access, though as before, they'll have to schedule their visit at least three business days ahead of time. Others will no longer have access to library resources.