He spent it just as admirably, building the local libraries in the area (and giving them to their respective counties), awarding endowments for residential building construction studies, things like that.

There is a strong case to be made for 20%, since the Yale endowment (which is one of the most successful investing funds of all time) allocates that much.

Bill Gulley The second largest holding for the Harvard Endowment Fund is in cemetaries at 1.1 Billion worth.

Not the ones who majored in astrophysics, but can't find a job because Wall Street tanked the economy, causing the universities to lose billions in endowments.

http://nearindy.org/teachers-village-affordable-ho...Also, that area just received this grant from the Lily Endowment so more improvements to come!

It's actually a pretty interesting phenomena known as the Endowment Effect whereby the mere act of owning something makes it more valuable to that particular individual (and no one else, unless there's celebrity status attached). 

@Shane Hummus  You could consider a whole life policy and fund it to maximum allowed before it is considered a modified endowment contract. 

In 1776, Thomas Jefferson wrote, when crafting the Declaration of Independence, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

If the policy is a Modified Endowment Contract (or if it becomes a MEC, even without your knowing it) any loans against the policy will be taxed exactly the same as if it were a cash-out distribution (plus a 10% penalty if you are under 60), AND you will still owe the full loan + interest back to the insurance company.

But there won't be that much of that sort of thing here -- not unless the local tertiary schools make incredible strides in growing their endowments and expanding their facilities.