Elon will broaden its fund-raising efforts with greater emphasis on expanding the endowment and increasing annual giving.

Build the endowment
Elon needs to raise an additional $50 million in cash and planned gifts for its endowment. The earnings from this endowment will support the quality enhancements of the NewCentury@Elon plan, directly benefiting students by ensuring that an Elon education remains affordable.

Endowed scholarships
As Leon "Doc" Watson '25 and his wife, Lorraine, planned their estate, they knew that investing in Elon students was an outstanding way to create a legacy and give back to the University that meant so much in their lives. Their $3 million bequest funded the Leon and Lorraine Watson Scholarship Program, aiding North Carolina students who have high financial need. Among the first to benefit was Elliot Rushing, who grew up in a family of seven foster children. By going to college, he has become a role model for his younger siblings. NewCentury@Elon will expand scholarship opportunities to give more students the resources they need to attend Elon.

Endowed programs
Dr. Isabella Cannon '24 never had children, but she always said that Elon students were her symbolic children. She believed the best way she could provide for them was to endow the Isabella Cannon Leadership Fellows program and the Isabella Cannon Centre for International Studies. Following her example, Don, Lucy and Loretta Dancer, parents and grandparent of an Elon student, created an endowment to provide grants for students who cannot afford study abroad experiences. NewCentury@Elon will create opportunities for donors to endow a variety of programs, such as undergraduate research, the Public Policy Institute, the Center for Teaching and Learning, and the Honors Program.

Endowed professorships
"Doing research with students is very much part of who I am as a professor," says chemist Karl Sienerth, the Japheth E. Rawls Professor in the sciences. "Research with undergraduates is an extension of teaching because students get to apply the things they learn in class. It starts their careers as scientists." This is the kind of education the Rawls family had in mind when they endowed the Rawls Professorship in science along with seven undergraduate research scholarships. The endowment celebrates the family's century-long association with Elon. NewCentury@Elon will identify additional families and individuals who wish to support faculty work by establishing professorships and chairs.

Endowed schools
Spencer Love is widely recognized as one of the most successful business leaders in North Carolina history. Today the legacy of this textile entrepreneur lives on at the Martha and Spencer Love School of Business. Members of each new Elon class learn about his skills and values and come to understand his vision of developing Burlington Industries into a leading textile firm. NewCentury@Elon will identify similar leaders to endow the School of Communications, the School of Education and Elon College, the College of Arts and Sciences.