Find out how an endowment gift provides a brighter future for Mason students.
When you make a donation to our endowment, you give a gift with both immediate and long-term benefits. Music scholarship endowments are a great way to cement your legacy at Mason, or honor or memorialize a loved one’s appreciation for music, all while supporting music students in perpetuity. Endowment donors may set criteria so they know their support is furthering the future of their favorite music, whether it’s supporting a specific instrument, genre, ensemble position, etc. In addition to scholarships, endowments may also be created for academic programs, faculty positions, or research.
A great way to start an endowment is by using your required minimum distribution (RMD) from a retirement account, qualifying those payments as charitable giving deductions on your taxes. The minimum for an endowment at Mason is $25,000, and can be paid in as little as $5,000 installments over 5 years. This would provide for a perpetual gift of $1,000 per year at a 4 percent spending level. Non-cash gifts, such as stocks, may also be used to start an endowment.
You do not have to be the original donor that set up the endowment in order to support an established scholarship. Often friends and family will donate to a scholarship named for a loved one, or alumni and supporters might donate to a scholarship named in a beloved faculty member’s honor.
To learn more about starting or supporting an endowment, email Amanda Snellings, Assistant Director of Development, or call 703-993-1593.
Endowed Scholarships for Music Students:
- Grace Aitel Award Endowed Scholarship
- Fred Begun Memorial Percussion Scholarship and Program
- Dr. Barry and Velma Berkey Music Endowed Scholarship
- John S. and Judith T. Bland Endowed Scholarship
- Jean Carrington Cook Endowed Scholarship
- Lucy C. Church Endowed Scholarship
- Dr. Sam di Bonaventura Memorial Endowed Scholarship
- Ebert Horn Studies Endowed Scholarship
- Joseph M. Kanyan Endowed Scholarship
- Lieder/Fell Opera Endowed Scholarship
- The Patricia A. Long Endowed Scholarship for Jazz Studies
- Anthony J. Maiello Music Endowed Scholarship
- Linda Apple Monson Scholars Endowed Fund
- Mildred Elaine Tetsell Parker Vocal Studies Endowed Scholarship
- Peterson Family Foundation Endowed Scholarship
- Peterson Family Endowed Scholarship in the Vocal Arts
- Carol M. Robinson and Peter R. Barcher PhD Endowed Scholarship
- Joseph D. Shirk Memorial Endowed Music Scholarship
- Shirley Udelson Memorial Endowed Scholarship
- Captain Robert Warakomsky, USCG (Ret.) and Mrs. Patricia Warakomsky Music Endowed Scholarship
Student Success Stories
Eddie Adams came to George Mason in the spring of 2018 and was accepted into the Dewberry School of Music’s demanding orchestral program. With no financial safety net available, and relying on scholarship support and financial aid, learn how Eddie struggled with poverty, family problems, and personal identity, and how his passion for playing the cello became a personal lifeline.
Crystal Golden (MM, Vocal Performance, 2019) was discovered by Patricia Miller, director of vocal studies and a Distinguished University Professor of Music at Mason, when she was a 14 year-old high school student. When it was time for Golden to apply to college, she decided to follow the professor who had already taught her so much. Golden, a soprano, earned her bachelor of music with a concentration in vocal performance in 2016, graduating summa cum laude. She went back to Mason to study for her MM in Vocal Performance (graduating in 2019), an achievement made possible in part by being awarded the Peterson Endowed Vocal Studies Scholarship.