The Research Trust Fund of West Virginia University

What is it?
The state of West Virginia in 2008 created a Research Trust Fund with an initial appropriation of $50 million to leverage public and private investments that will transform West Virginia’s economy. WVU will be able to tap into this fund to double private gifts that support expansions to research faculty and infrastructure in key areas linked to economic development, health care, and job growth. The WVU Research Trust is the University’s coordinated response to the opportunity made possible by the State of West Virginia through the Research Trust Fund. WVU’s Research Trust effort consists of the Advanced Energy Initiative; the Security and Intelligence Initiative; and the Biomedical and Health Research Initiative. 

George Bennett, a WVU graduate who founded four successful businesses and reshaped the practice of management consulting, has contributed $1 million to his alma mater. The gift will be used to support research in energy, nanotechnology, biomedical sciences, and biometrics in WVU’s College of Engineering and Mineral Resources, and is eligible for matching funds from the West Virginia Research Trust Fund.

Money from the West Virginia Research Trust Fund will be disbursed only after private donations or pledges are received by the WVU Foundation to establish a new endowed fund supporting one of these research initiatives.  Gifts can be made by individuals, corporations or private charitable foundations.  The Research Trust of WVU has created an incentive for donors to support certain priority areas of study that align with WVU’s research priorities - efforts that enhance the long-term research objectives and stimulate research-based economic development and economic diversification.  In general, the University and the WVU Foundation are seeking private support for endowed chairs, endowed faculty positions, endowed research funds as well as graduate and undergraduate endowed support funds in each of these four research areas.

Why this initiative?
West Virginia ranks 50th in the United States in the creation and retention of high value-added, high-wage jobs. In order to participate in the new economy and create lasting opportunities for job growth, West Virginia must strengthen research programs and stop the “brain drain” of talented citizens who leave the state to seek employment.

West Virginia has already seen positive results with a smaller state research investment last year. In one year, the Eminent Scholars Recruitment and Enhancement Program has attracted $10 million in private support for research professors and their laboratories, including a major gift to WVU’s Mary Babb Randolph Cancer Center to enlarge the breast cancer research program — a program that will benefit West Virginians throughout the state. Other states, including Kentucky, have invested large sums over long periods in similar programs and are seeing significant returns.

Who should support it?
Anyone who wants to work in concert to give West Virginia a competitive edge in the new economy and spur long-term job creation across the state would be interested in making a private gift to support the Research Trust Fund of West Virginia University.

Who should I contact for more information?
To learn more about making a private gift to support the Research Trust of West Virginia University, contact:

Loreta Mascioli
Director of Corporate Giving
WVU Foundation
304-284-4074