Leadership Gifts

The Leadership Gifts Office, located on the third floor of Brockway Hall, works with individuals who wish to support special projects and programs at SUNY Cortland. Donors may designate their commitments to specific areas or funding priorities on the campus. There are many naming opportunities on campus for outright and planned gifts, from scholarships to faculty chairs to physical places on campus.

Cortland continues to be an extraordinary place for learning and teaching. Many of our accomplishments are a testimony to the loyal support and dedication of the larger Cortland community. Cortland’s “Partners in Leadership,” those donors who give $1,000 or more per year, set an outstanding example of Leadership Giving to the School. As the most generous contributors to the Cortland Fund, these gifts are essential to our ability to provide an extraordinary education.

Leadership Gifts to the Cortland Fund

These gifts add strength to Cortland’s mission by providing the facilities and opportunities expected of a first class research and teaching facility. They augment student financial aid funds and they support teaching and research initiatives. In every department, they provide flexibility to help develop new curricula, to purchase classroom technology and materials, and to support undergraduate research. 

Outright major investments in the college are catalysts for growth and have the immediate power to transform an existing program or initiate a new one. They are critical to advancing the college's vision. The leadership gifts officers stay in close touch with donors on the uses of their gifts and encourage them to visit the campus to see first-hand the impact their gifts are making on our students and on our campus.

Enhancing Access: Scholarship Funds

Cortland is committed to a need-based financial aid policy. The College tries to meet the demonstrated need of every promising student who is admitted. Inherent in this policy is Cortland’s promise to support the talented young people it admits, regardless of their ability to afford a Cortland education.

Because of this commitment, financial aid is one of the College's highest fund-raising priorities. Alumni, parents, and friends of the College generously support the next generation of Cortland students through various kinds of scholarships. For many deserving students who could not otherwise afford a Cortland education, scholarships open the door to undreamed-of possibilities.

What are the benefits of establishing a permanently endowed Cortland Scholarship?

In addition to providing a student with the support he or she needs to succeed, a permanent, endowed scholarship often leads to a meaningful connection between the donor and the scholar. A donor who establishes an endowed scholarship receives written reports about his or her students, and the student learns the name of the donor as well as any other information the donor wishes to share. Each spring, donors are invited to meet their scholars at the Scholarship Reception, a gathering that celebrates the special relationship between students and their benefactors.

Many students enjoy corresponding with their donors by letter or email. In gratitude for the support they received as students, many scholarship recipients support the College’s financial aid program later in life, extending an ever-widening circle of opportunity. Supporting an individual student through an endowed Scholarship is a powerful way to make a difference in a student’s life, and to sustain the values shared by Cortland graduates everywhere.

Giving Societies at Cortland

Members of Cortland’s giving societies represent our most generous and loyal donors.

Giving Levels

The Illumination Society
Gifts of $50,000 and above

The Tioughnioga Society
Gifts of $25,000 and above

President’s Leadership Circle 
Gifts of $10,000 to $24,999

Lyceum Society  
Gifts of $5,000 to $9,999

1868 Society 
Gifts of $1,868 to $4,999

Committee of One Thousand
Gifts of $1,000 to $1,867

Where Your Gifts Are Needed

• Student support in the form of scholarships
  Great students inspire faculty and challenge fellow students.
• Faculty support in the form of endowed chairs and department gifts
  The caliber of an academic institution rests upon the quality of faculty, who are the lifeblood of SUNY Cortland.
• Facilities support
  While outstanding people make a institution, the places in which they do their work have a profound effect on their ability to be exceptional.
• Program and department research support
  We are one of the nation's great public institutions in the Northeast, and our work extends from teacher education to sports management to chemistry to social sciences.
• Discretionary support
  Discretionary support provides tremendous flexibility for our department chairs and directors as they adapt to ever-changing needs and demands.