History of The Duke Endowment Giving to Davidson

Davidson College is one of four educational institutions that receive annual financial support from The Duke Endowment. The others are Duke University, Furman University, and Johnson C. Smith University. The Duke Endowment is Davidson College’s single-largest benefactor and with this gift will have contributed more than $167 million to the college.

The Duke Endowment’s previous gifts to Davidson include:

• Annual support during the Great Depression that sustained the college through enormous financial hardship.
• Grants in the 1960s for construction of a new library and tennis courts, faculty and staff salaries, and scientific equipment.
• Funding to create the James B. Duke Scholarship and the James B. Duke Professorship in
  International Studies.
• Support for construction of the Katherine and Tom Belk Visual Arts Center, the Watson Life
  Sciences Complex, and the Duke Family Performance Hall, and renovations to the James B. Duke Residence Hall.
• The lead gift for The Davidson Trust, Davidson College’s commitment to meeting 100 percent
  of admitted students’ need with grants and student employment, but without loans.