the.com/endowment
A pile of money that refuses to spend itself, forever.
means A fund or financial gift given to an institution so that the principal stays invested and only the earnings get used, ideally forever.
from From Anglo-French 'endouer,' built on Latin 'dotare' — to furnish with a dowry or dowry-like gift — itself from 'dos, dotis,' meaning dowry. The marriage connection is real: an endowment was originally the property a woman brought into marriage, or a gift settled on a wife or church. Over centuries the word drifted from brides to institutions — universities, charities, museums — all 'dowered' with capital meant to outlast the giver.
- spend rule
- usually just 4-5% withdrawn per year
- goal
- outlive every student who funded it
- harvard's
- bigger than the GDP of several countries
- origin
- from medieval dowries, now minus the marriage