The Michaelhouse Chairman’s Club was founded in the year 2000 to raise funds for the Michaelhouse Bursary Endowment Trust (MBET), and all funds raised by the Club are paid to the Trust and managed by its Trustees. More recently, the Club has been positioned within the context of the Generational Plan which gives the mandate for establishing a meaningful long-term sustainable Endowment Fund for the School.
An Endowment Fund may be defined as “a pool of funds raised by a non-profit organization which is then invested and which provides returns or ongoing income to that organization, either for a designated purpose or for general operating support.”
The vital importance of endowment funding is now recognised by educational institutions throughout the world. Perhaps the best known educational endowment funds are the Harvard University Fund ($ 36.9 billion) and the Yale University Fund ($ 23.9 billion). These two institutions also lead the way with regard to the theory and practise of endowment fund investing.
Learn more about the MBET here:
Michaelhouse Bursary Endowment Trust
Nowadays, virtually every School of standing has a permanent endowment or fundraising office.
The concept of the Chairman’s Club has been received enthusiastically by the Michaelhouse Community.
The current membership of the Club is 320 and consists of:
In 2024, 104 boys were assisted by funds distributed by the MBET which had been raised by the Chairman’s Club. Note this is not the entirety of financial aid distributed.
The MBET investment record has grown the capital base materially over time with a balanced, responsible and international mandate. The investment management of the Trust is outsourced to carefully selected fund managers and investment strategy is closely overseen by the board of Trustees.
The Michaelhouse Chairman’s Club is a unique fundraising vehicle in that it allows each member to indicate their preference as to the use to which their donated funds will be put, and then provides for ongoing reporting to the donor.
Membership is awarded to any person making a donation of at least R50,000 to the Michaelhouse Bursary Endowment Trust. This minimum was set in the year 2000 when the club was founded and was based on the equivalent of one year’s fees at Michaelhouse.