Gift Opportunities

Gifts to the University Musical Society may be made with cash, a pledge, or a planned gift -- or a combination of all three.

You may make your gift to annual operating support or endowment, and you may designate your support to any of the three areas of our mission: presentation, education and creation.

At significant levels of support, a fund may be named for you or someone you would like to honor. The following are examples of the ways you may express your interests and passions while supporting UMS. Our staff and volunteers will be pleased to discuss with you the many options for making and designating your gift.



Presentation Presentation is the most visible part of the UMS mission and the way in which most people first became a member of the UMS "family."

  • Support a single presentation or create an endowment for a presentation each year
  • Annually support a series or endow a series
  • Endow a fund to be used to diversify our audience base, by age or ethnicity
  • Create a fund for the presentation of a specific genre, such as classical, chamber, jazz, dance, or theater
  • Establish a fund to bring artistically distinctive, but financially riskier, presentations to the community
  • Provide support for our longest tradition, the UMS Choral Union
  • Make it possible for students and young people to attend performances


    • Education Education and audience development programs engage community members of all age levels and interests. Programming that reaches into schools in southeastern Michigan provides an experience for students who might not otherwise have the opportunity to attend a performance.

    The UMS Education and Audience Development Department works collaboratively with K-12 schools and with academic units of the University to provide curricular context for students. Members of the broader community have a more meaningful experience at our performances as a result of the seminars and lectures that provide them with the context for the work.

  • Provide annual support or establish an endowment for artists to work with students in the classroom
  • Create a fund to help develop materials to be used with students
  • Support a single youth performance or a series of youth performances
  • Make artists' residencies possible, enabling the artist(s) to engage with the community in a variety of ways over several days or weeks
  • Establish a challenge grant to encourage other donors to contribute to education programs


    • Creation Creation represents the highest level of engagement with an artist and is a larger commitment than presenting. It is a catalyst for an artist to realize a vision and have time without the pressure of touring and performing to create a product or finish a work in progress. Creation lifts UMS into a different league of presenting organizations and parallels the research function of a university. Residencies also provide students with the unique opportunity to see works in progress.

  • Establish an endowment fund or "Creative Venture Fund" to support our newest and most creative efforts
  • Provide one-time support or establish an endowment fund so artists can create or complete new work


    • Unrestricted Operating Support Each fiscal year brings new challenges and opportunities. Unrestricted operating support provides the necessary flexibility for the financial leadership of UMS to take advantage of unforeseen opportunities. Unrestricted support can be applied to any area of our mission and assists the organization in meeting our business plan for the year. Unrestricted support can assist with the frequently changing demands of technology, provide matching funds for a foundation or government grant, be used to increase audience participation, or support any of the three areas of our mission as opportunities become available.


    Endowment Funds Establishing an endowment -- a long-term, income-producing pool of assets that grows over time -- is one of the most powerful ways for you to support UMS forever. Your endowment gift is invested and a portion of the assets are made available each year to be used for presentations, education, or creation. The remaining assets and investment returns are retained in the endowment to provide for its growth over time.

    Establishing an endowment gives you a vision of the future. It enables UMS to withstand the tough times and introduce new programs in good times. Endowments are to nonprofits what savings plans are to families: they provide financial security for the future.

    A minimum gift of $50,000 allows you to establish a named endowment. Please contact Margaret Reid at 734-647-1178 or marnreid@umich.edu to learn more about endowed funds.