Dean's office

Established in August 1990, the College of Nursing Endowment Fund supports the advancement of nursing education, practice, and research. Through strategic investment in academic and scholarly initiatives, the fund contributes to the College’s mission of enhancing nursing knowledge and promoting the health and well-being of individuals and communities. The fund is stewarded under the leadership of the Dean of the College of Nursing, who ensures its alignment with the College’s academic and strategic goals.

Intent and value

The Endowment Fund provides a sustainable source of funding to support initiatives that align with the strategic priorities of the College of Nursing. These include, but are not limited to:

• Student support: Awards, bursaries, scholarly travel & activities, and other academic initiatives.
• Research support: Administered through the Manitoba Centre for Nursing and Health Research (MCNHR).
• Strategic initiatives: Projects that advance the College’s mission, including:
  • Equity Action Plan (EAP)
  • Truth and Reconciliation (TRC)
  • Restorative Justice (RJ)
  • Interprofessional Collaboration (OIPC)
  • Other emerging priorities

Specific categories and examples are outlined in the College of Nursing Endowment Fund Guidelines.

Eligibility criteria and application process

Eligibility criteria, application procedures, and submission timelines are detailed in the Endowment Fund Guidelines. In general:

• Applicants must be faculty, staff, or students affiliated with the College of Nursing.
• Proposals must demonstrate alignment with the College’s strategic goals.
• Applicants are encouraged to explore other internal and external funding sources prior to applying.

Fund management

• The College of Nursing Endowment Fund shall be managed as an unrestricted endowment fund within the University Investment Trust (UIT).
• The annual spending limit of investment income will be determined by UIT policies and procedures.
• The principal is held in perpetuity and cannot be accessed; only investment income may be used to support fund objectives, in accordance with the University of Manitoba Trust and Endowment Funds Policy and Procedures.
• Any remaining funding after annual disbursements will be recapitalized into the College of Nursing Endowment Fund.
• The Dean of the College of Nursing is accountable for ensuring that the fund is managed in accordance with university policies and that its use reflects the College’s evolving priorities.

Administration and disbursement

The Dean of the College of Nursing holds primary authority over the administration and strategic direction of the Endowment Fund, including oversight of the annual spending allocation. This includes:

• Maintaining a process for receiving and evaluating applications and communicating this process through the Endowment Fund Guidelines.
• Where desired, delegating initial review and vetting of applications.
• Ensuring all expenditures are reviewed with the Senior Financial Officer (SFO) prior to disbursement.
• Disbursements comply with the University of Manitoba, Faculty, and College financial policies and procedures.

Final authority over all fund disbursement decisions resides with the Dean, ensuring that allocations are consistent with the College’s mission, strategic priorities, and governance standards.

Accountability and reporting

• The Dean retains discretion over the format and scope of reporting, ensuring transparency and alignment with institutional expectations.
• An annual report (first quarter of the fiscal year) shall be provided by the Dean of the College of Nursing, detailing the disposition of the funds and the impact of these investments.
• Annual reporting on the use of funds and recipients will be maintained by the College of Nursing and made available to the RFHS Dean’s Office, Finance, and the Office of Donor Relations upon request.

Conflict of interest

Any potential conflicts of interest must be disclosed by individuals involved in the review, approval, or oversight of the fund, must recuse themselves from decisions where such conflicts exist.

Contingency clause

Should the College of Nursing be dissolved or amalgamated, the fund must continue to support initiatives aligned with the advancement of nursing education, practice, and research within the Rady Faculty of Health Sciences or its successor unit, in accordance with the original intent and guiding principles of the fund.

Statement of compliance

Given the varied purposes of the endowment fund, including support for student awards, research initiatives, and strategic projects, the fund is administered in accordance with all applicable University of Manitoba policies and procedures, in compliance with all relevant federal and provincial laws and regulations governing research.

These include, but are not limited to, the Tri-Agency Framework: Responsible Conduct of Research, the Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans (TCPS 2), the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA), and the University of Manitoba Act.

All funded research must uphold the principles of equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI), maintain ethics approvals, and comply with the University’s policies on intellectual property and research data management, including the responsible handling, storage, and sharing of research outputs.

The fund is managed in alignment with university governance standards and fiduciary responsibilities as outlined in the University of Manitoba Act. As this is not a donor-established fund, donor intent provisions do not apply. This fund is also subject to all applicable University of Manitoba financial, audit, and risk management policies.

Review and amendment authority

• The Dean may initiate amendments to the Terms of Reference to reflect changes in strategic direction, operational requirements, or institutional policies.
• The Terms of Reference will be reviewed by the College of Nursing at least every five (5) years, or earlier if deemed necessary due to changes in policy, funding availability, or program structure.
• Any amendments to the Terms of Reference must be reviewed and approved by the Dean of the College of Nursing, in consultation with the Department of Finance and the Trust and Endowment Faculty Lead, to ensure continued alignment with University of Manitoba policies. As this is not a donor-established fund, amendments do not require donor consultation.

Purpose

The College of Nursing Endowment Fund Guidelines provides information on the current criteria and process for the application and disbursement of funds from the College of Nursing (CON) Endowment fund, in alignment with the fund Terms of Reference.

Application eligibility criteria

1. The primary applicant must be a faculty, student, or staff member of the College of Nursing.
    
2. Project submissions must be aligned with the strategic goals of the College of Nursing. To align your project submission with one or more of the strategic goals, please access this link (link forthcoming).

Applicants should ensure that projects/requests that best meet the guidelines for other available funding sources within the college or university are first requested through those sources. Please refer to the “Other Available Funding” section.

Project categories

The CON Endowment Fund categories align with the strategic priorities of the College of Nursing. The categories below indicate the types of activities and projects that may be supported by the Endowment Fund. The list is neither exhaustive nor restrictive.

The CON Dean is accountable for allocation of the Fund expenditures and reporting. The College of Nursing Leadership is responsible for overseeing each project. For each category of funding a CON Lead has been appointed.

1. Dean

1. CON Strategic goals: equity action plan (EAP), restorative justice (RJ), truth and reconciliation (TRC) focus
2. CON Strategic goals: Interprofessional collaboration (OIPC) focus
3. Other CON strategic initiatives not captured below
4. Discretionary (surplus if relevant to advancing CON priorities)

2. Associate Dean Research

1. CON Strategic goals: MCNHR Research Initiatives (please apply directly to MCHNR Research funding opportunities)
   1. Grants
   2. Open Access

3. Associate Dean Graduate Programs

1. CON Strategic goals: Graduate Scholarship
   1. GNSA Awards/bursaries-standing amount
   2. Graduate travel/conference

4. Associate Dean UG/Director UG

1. CON Strategic goals: NSA-standing amount
2. CON Strategic goals: UG scholarship
   1. Travel/conference

Conditions of award

1. Activities and projects supported by the Endowment Fund must comply with university, faculty, and college policies, specifically where applicable to the University policies related to research ethics and animal/biosafety board approvals. It is the responsibility of the applicant(s) to secure the appropriate approval(s). Funds will not be released until all such approvals have been obtained.
    
2. The award recipient is responsible for the use of the funds and for anyover-expenditure. Expenditures must comply with university regulations concerning the use of special project funds and must be made in accordance with standard University financial procedures.
    
3. Awards normally terminate at the end of the fiscal year (March 31) they have been issued for and any unspent funds are automatically returned to the Endowment Fund.
    
4. Within three months of the completion or termination of the award, a report is to be submitted to the Office of the Dean. The report should address the following:
    
   1. Amount spent and remaining,
   2. Extent to which the objectives of the project were met, and
   3. Date of presentation to Council and other stakeholders if relevant.
       
5. Award holders are requested to acknowledge the assistance of the College of Nursing Endowment Fund in all publications, presentations, and media coverage from this support.

Criteria for assessing proposals

1. The proposal’s relevance to the goals of the Endowment Fund (see top of document)
   • Enhances the work of the College in pursuit of excellence.
   • Demonstrates potential to involve and/or benefit a significant number of CON, students, and/or staff.
      
2. Quality of proposal
   • A clearly written proposal, including a clear statement of objectives.
   • Demonstrates potential to involve and/or benefit a significant number of CON, students, and/or staff.
   • Description of the activities for which funds are sought, and the personnel involved.
   • Inclusion of a schedule of activities, completion date of project, etc.
   • Inclusion of a detailed budget, itemizing proposed expenditure of funds. Budgeted expenditures are expected to align with university and faculty policies and rates. Applicants are encouraged to reach out to the Senior Financial Officer (SFO) with questions when drafting their budgets.
   • Feasibility in terms of budget, schedule, personnel, and technical content.
   • The value/benefit/recognition is expected to accrue to students, staff, the College, the University, etc.
   • Description of how findings will be disseminated.
   • Project proposals which may involve significant impact on the College of Nursing, such as potential changes to curriculum approaches and physical space within the College need to be vetted and an approval from the appropriate administrative person should be provide to the committee prior to funding.
   • Appendices should be limited to supplemental material that is essential to evaluate the proposal

Assessed need for funds

• Alignment to CON strategic priorities.
• Appropriateness of the budget to the stated objectives and activities.
• Supplementary funds (applied for and received) must be included in the budget in order to determine what portion is being sought from the Endowment Fund.

Application procedures

1. Call for application December 1
2. Due end of January 30
3. Review (includes SFO review) and Approval of applications February/March
4. Allocation of funding to recipients effective April 1
5. Final report due May 1 to Office of the Dean.

All applications must be type-written and submitted electronically.

Other available funding

As noted above, projects/funding requests that best meet criteria of other funding sources should apply first to those sources for support. This includes:

• Individual research project funding: Funds for research (and evaluation) projects are to be submitted separately to the MCNHR Research Competition which receives a yearly allocation of funding from the Endowment Fund Advisory Committee to support faculty research and graduate student thesis/dissertation projects.
   
• Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Funds: Faculty are encouraged to apply to the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) Development and Support funds. This deadline is in early Fall, please check with the Office of the Dean regarding the internal deadline each year. More information about this funding is available on the intranet page for the Office of the Provost and Vice-President (Academic) under Funding and Awards.
   
• Indigenous Initiatives Fund: For Indigenous Initiatives outside of what would fall under categories noted above, persons should apply to the Indigenous Initiatives Fund.
   
• Faculty Development Initiatives Fund: this supports initiatives at a faculty, school, or department level that enhance academic faculty development.
   
• Distinguished Visitor Programs: The Office of the President oversees the Robert and Elizabeth Knight Distinguished Visitors Program and the Distinguished Visiting Lecturer Program. Please flow ideas and applications for these programs through the Office of the Dean.
   
• College Operating and Capital Budgets: The endowment fund is not intended to support/supplement expenses that would normally be funded by the operating or capital budgets of the college, as determined by the Dean and SFO.