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.
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
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%.
October 27, 2025
The University of Cincinnati Foundation recognized its Outstanding Philanthropic Volunteer Award honorees at the George Rieveschl Recognition Dinner on Oct. 23, 2025.
October 23, 2025
Bearcat for Life Greg Wolf served as a champion for student-athletes and the greater UC community during his lifetime and continues to inspire, serve and change trajectories through his legacy.
October 9, 2025
A local foundation focused on improving health outcomes for patients with brain and neurodegenerative diseases has made a $5 million gift to the University of Cincinnati Center for Alzheimer’s and Neurodegenerative Disease Research at the University of Cincinnati Gardner Neuroscience Institute.
October 2, 2025
The University of Cincinnati College of Engineering and Applied Science (CEAS) has received a $1 million gift from the family of long-time faculty member Phillip C. Quo and his wife Consuelo Y. Quo.
September 8, 2025
WVXU host Zack Carreon hosted a segment reporting on the University of Cincinnati’s launch of a Center for Explainable, Ethical, and Trustworthy AI this fall within the College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Philosophy.
August 11, 2025
Ken Ludlow has a history of involvement with his alma mater, but recent events inspired him to create the Ken Ludlow Athletics Scholarship Endowment Fund for student-athletes and the Kenneth E. Ludlow Fund for Cancer Research at the UC College of Medicine and the University of Cincinnati Cancer Center. “I’m his inspiration,” Charlene Comeaux says.
