§ 116-36.  Endowment fund.

(a) The board of trustees of each constituent institution shall establish and maintain, pursuant to such terms and conditions, uniformly applicable to all constituent institutions, as the Board of Governors of the University of North Carolina may from time to time prescribe, an endowment fund for the constituent institution.

(b) It is not the intent of this section that the proceeds from any endowment fund shall take the place of State appropriations or any part thereof, but it is the intent of this section that those proceeds shall supplement the State appropriations to the end that the institution may improve and increase its functions, may enlarge its areas of service, and may become more useful to a greater number of people.

(c) Pursuant to the foregoing subsections and consistent with the powers and duties prescribed in this section, each board of trustees shall appoint an investment board to be known as "The Board of Trustees of the Endowment Fund of ______" (here shall be inserted the name of the constituent institution).

(d) The trustees of the endowment fund may receive and administer as part of the endowment fund gifts, and devises and any other property of any kind that may come to them from the Board of Governors of the University of North Carolina or that may come to the trustees of the endowment fund from any other source, excepting always the monies received from State appropriations and from tuition and fees collected from students and used for the general operation of the institution.

(e) The trustees of the endowment fund shall be responsible for the prudent investment of the fund in the exercise of their sound discretion, without regard to any statute or rule of law relating to the investment of funds by fiduciaries but in compliance with any lawful condition placed by the donor upon that part of the endowment fund to be invested.

(f) In the process of prudent investment of the fund or to realize the statutory intent of the endowment, the board of trustees of the endowment fund may expend or use interest and principal of gifts, and devises; provided that, the expense or use would not violate any condition or restriction imposed by the original donor of the property which is to be expended or used. To realize the statutory intent of the endowment fund, the board of trustees of the endowment fund may transfer interest or principal of the endowment fund to the useful possession of the constituent institution; provided that, the transfer would not violate any condition or restriction imposed by the original donor of the property which is the subject of the proposed transfer.

(g) The trustees of the endowment fund shall have the power to buy, sell, lend, exchange, lease, transfer, or otherwise dispose of or to acquire (except by pledging their credit or violating a lawful condition of receipt of the corpus into the endowment fund) any property, real or personal, with respect to the fund, in either public or private transaction, and in doing so they shall not be subject to the provisions of Chapters 143, 143C, and 146 of the General Statutes; provided that, any expense or financial obligation of the State of North Carolina created by any acquisition or disposition, by whatever means, of any real or personal property of the endowment fund shall be borne by the endowment fund unless authorization to satisfy the expense or financial obligation from some other source shall first have been obtained from the Director of the Budget.

(h) The Board of Governors of the University of North Carolina shall establish and maintain in a manner not inconsistent with the provisions of this section or with regulations established under this section an endowment fund for all endowment funds now held or hereafter acquired by the University of North Carolina for the benefit of the University as a whole, or for the joint benefit of any two or more constituent institutions of the University.

(i) The Board of Governors of the University of North Carolina shall establish and maintain in a manner not inconsistent with the provisions of this section or with regulations established under this section an endowment fund for all endowment funds now held or hereafter acquired for the benefit of the University of North Carolina Press.

(i1) The Board of Governors of the University of North Carolina shall establish and maintain in a manner not inconsistent with the provisions of this section or with regulations established under this section an endowment fund for all endowment funds now held or hereafter acquired for the benefit of the University of North Carolina Center for Public Media.

(j) Any gift or devise of real or personal property to a constituent institution of the University of North Carolina or to the University of North Carolina or to the University of North Carolina Press or to the University of North Carolina Center for Public Media shall be presumed, nothing to the contrary appearing, a gift or devise, as the case may be, to the endowment fund of the respective institution or agency.

(k) Whenever any property of an endowment fund authorized by this section is disposed of or otherwise transferred from the endowment fund, any instrument of transfer shall indicate that the donor, grantor, seller, lessor, lender, or transferor, as the case may be, is the board of trustees of the endowment fund.

(l) The proceeds and funds described by this section are appropriated and may be used only as provided by this section.

(m) Chapter 36E of the General Statutes applies to an endowment fund authorized by this section. (1971, c. 1244, s. 1; 1977, c. 506; 1979, c. 649, ss. 2, 3; 1983, c. 717, s. 31; 1985 (Reg. Sess., 1986), c. 955, ss. 28, 29; 2006-203, ss. 44, 44.1; 2009-8, s. 5; 2011-284, s. 83(a), (b), (c); 2019-139, s. 2.1(a).)