Endowment Impact Stories

Each of UC's 2,600 endowment funds has its own story and makes its own impact. Each one supports a specific scholarship, professorship, research project, or other program; and, ultimately, UC’s mission. 

From helping a student afford to attend college, to sponsoring a lecture series that inspires a future career, to developing a life-saving drug, to exonerating an innocent life...their missions are varied and their stories and impacts reach far and wide; and it's the privilege of the Investment Office to work ambitiously day-by-day to drive investment gains in order to maximize those impacts.  

Two programs we're particularly proud to support through the endowment are the Ohio Innocence Project (OIP) and the Gen-1 Impact House.  These programs are making an immeasurable impact thanks, in part, to the perpetual gifts which helped to establish and continue to provide funds for each endeavor. 

Ohio Innocence Project 

The goal of the Ohio Innocence Project is to exonerate every wrongly-convicted Ohioan.  Harnessing the energy and intellect of UC law students as its driving force, OIP seeks to identify inmates in Ohio prisons who are actually innocent of the crimes they were convicted of committing.  Since its founding in 2003, the Ohio Innocence Project has helped 42 individuals obtain their long-sought freedom.

We are their last hope. Someone to advocate and believe in them and fight for them when no one else will.

Mallorie Thomas Former OIP Fellow

Learn more about UC Law's Ohio Innocence Project

Gen-1 / Impact House

Gen-1 is a groundbreaking UC program and the nation's first living-learning community to focus on first-generation college students. The Gen-1 Program was established in 2008 and is a living and learning community that shepherds Pell-eligible, 1st generation college students helping to ensure academic success through high-intensity advising, academic courses, and co-curricular experiences. One such measure of success is Gen-1's 92% 1st-to-2nd-year retention rate — well above the national rate of 62%.

Learn more about Gen-1 Program / Impact House

Other Recent Impact News

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UC Chicago Alumni to be honored at annual Chicagoans for Cincy!...

April 25, 2025

The University of Cincinnati Alumni Association and the Chicagoans for Cincy! Celebration committee, a group of dedicated alumni living in the Chicago area, will honor three outstanding Bearcats at this year’s annual Chicagoans for Cincy! Celebration. The event will take place Thursday, May 8, at 6 p.m. at Loft Lucia in Chicago’s West Loop neighborhood.

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$5 million gift supports University of Cincinnati regional...

April 15, 2025

An anonymous donor has made a $5 million gift to the University of Cincinnati to support its regional colleges, UC Blue Ash College and UC Clermont College. This generous donation will provide paid internships and co-ops, expanded career services offerings and more scholarship support for students at both colleges. Since 2018, this anonymous donor has given UC $7.26 million; earlier gifts were to UC Clermont.

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UC reaches $740M in research expenditures

January 30, 2025

The University of Cincinnati and its affiliates reached $740 million in research expenditures in 2024, a 6% increase over the previous year and a record for UC. Research partners include UC Health, Cincinnati Children’s, the Cincinnati VA and the University of Cincinnati Research Institute.

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$2.65 million gift will enhance neurological intensive care at...

December 16, 2024

A $2.65 million gift from the Farmer Family Foundation will help transform care for UC Health patients needing the most specialized neurological care. The neuro-ICU at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center provides advanced, around-the-clock care for critically ill neurological and neurosurgical patients.

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UC alum deepens legacy adding $1.1 million gift to College of...

December 2, 2024

By bolstering an already significant commitment, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine alumnus Steven Edelstein, MD, ’89, has elevated his Dr. Steven Edelstein Medical Student Endowment Scholarship Fund, established to further support generations of aspiring physicians.

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