Designated Giving

An unrestricted gift provides powerful financial flexibility to meet core college commitments and support new initiatives, ensuring that Williams will continue to be great in the years to come. Your gift joins those from thousands of alumni and parents to provide more than $13 million in operating revenue each year—some 6% of the college’s annual budget—which represents for example the salaries of one-third of the college’s faculty or the financial aid needed to support to one half of each entering class.

Williams has the first-in-the-nation all-grant financial aid program-- the college has eliminated the campus job requirement and summer earnings requirement for all students receiving financial aid and also has eliminated loans from all financial aid packages. This is only made possible by the continuation of the generous history of gifts from past alumni and families. Your gift to financial aid also supports free textbooks for all aided students, free lab and art supplies, and music lessons as well as health insurance, summer storage and the essentials (the First Yard Fund) first year high-need students need to be prepared dorm life as well as their first Williamstown winter.

Your gift supports outstanding Williams scholars, artists and scientists who are deeply committed to undergraduate students, inspiring them to be critical and creative thinkers, better analysts and careful writers. Faculty support helps fund programs like: tutorials; summer research; innovative and multidisciplinary courses; faculty salaries, recruitment and professional development; visiting professors; technology and library resources; guest lecturers, and special faculty-led initiatives.

Your gift supports the connections that Williams students make with one another, both in and out of the classroom and as members of a vibrant campus community--connections that form the foundations of lifelong friendships. Student life includes initiatives like health and wellness activities; community-based learning opportunities; First Days and Senior Week programs; class and affinity trips; the Williams Outing Club; and intramural and club sports.

Your gift supports student-athletes and coaches and their ability to focus on teamwork, dedication, continual improvement, and leadership. Dedicated coaches provide an environment where students have the opportunity to participate in sports without sacrificing their studies or the pursuit of other passions.  You can make your gift in support of the entire program or in support of a particular team and help cover the cost of things like spring break training; athletic equipment; travel costs and meals on the road; and facilities.

Your gift supports creating an inclusive academic and personal experience where students can live, learn, thrive, and know that they belong through programs and opportunities provided by the Davis Center and MinCo groups. Additionally, you help create a more equitable and inclusive employer of diverse individuals through the work of the Office of Institutional Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.

Support of sustainability at Williams includes funds for recycling, composting and energy reduction on campus, as well as campus organizations like the Purple Bike Coalition, WRAPS (Williams Recovery of all Perishable Surplus) program, and student internships with the Zilkha Center and the Center for Environmental Studies.

Your gift supports music ensembles, dance companies, theater productions, art classes, and more that provide opportunities for learning, expression, and leadership for students from all backgrounds. Your gift can cover essentials like scripts for department shows; costume fabric and materials; and stage lighting.

Your gift supports students as they grapple with issues of justice and belonging, equality, equity, and inclusion at Williams and in communities locally and across the country.  Your gift might go toward making possible student participation in key programs like CLiA (Center for Learning in Action); Community Outreach Summer Fellowship; Sentinels Summer Public Policy Research Fellowship; Volunteer Income Tax Assistance; and efforts to combat food insecurity. In addition social justice funds support experiential courses and breakout trips. 

Your gift supports the Williams College Museum of Art as it nurtures the cross-disciplinary arts in support of a liberal arts education; advancing the preparation of arts leaders; and creating a shared learning community that spurs new thinking. Your gift could go to essential WCMA programs like Object Lab; WALLS; Agents for Creative Action and other exhibitions and programs. 

To be the first in any of these ways takes hard work and courage, and your gift helps make possible a number of opportunities to build a sense of belonging among the Williams Firsts community, including pre-orientation, activities and workshops organized by the Williams Firsts board, and the Williams firsts Graduation Celebration. You also help fund resources and guidance to support first gen students in their academic journey, including the Summer Humanities and Social Sciences Program, and the Summer Science Program, both of which take place prior to the fall of the first year as a student. 

The degree of accessibility of our physical campus, as well as our technology, curricular and co-curricular opportunities can either enhance or limit our ability to create a community where all members can thrive and participate. Your gift helps provide appropriate, effective, and progressive accommodations for students while shaping campus conversation around the concepts of accessibility, ability, and disability through the work of the Office of Accessible Education and the Office of Institutional Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.