Daugherty Endowment Expands Startup Awards with Day of Giving Support

NC State’s Daugherty Endowment, a fund designed to support early-stage university-affiliated startups, expanded its impact in 2025 by awarding five startup companies – an increase from the typical three – thanks to funds earned during  NC State’s annual Day of Giving.

The endowment secured additional support after finishing at the top of the Power Your Pack Leaderboard, which recognizes campus initiatives that achieve the largest year-over-year increase in donor activity or giving during the day-long campaign.

A Legacy of Startup Support

Established in 2003 through the generous gift from retired IBM executive Richard L. Daugherty and his wife, Marlene V. Daugherty, the Richard L. and Marlene V. Daugherty Centennial Campus Entrepreneurial Endowment was designed to help bridge the funding gap between research funding and commercial product development. Daugherty, who went on to work at NC State after retirement, played a key role in the recruitment of external partner companies to NC State’s Centennial Campus to build lasting industrial partnerships on the growing research campus.

For more than two decades, the fund has played a key role in translating NC State research innovations into real-world impact by increasing the success of new companies launched to develop intellectual property originating from NC State while promoting entrepreneurship on campus. It has also been able to leverage the support of key partners such as the Kenan Institute for Engineering, Technology, and Science (KIETS) at NC State, which matches Daugherty funding each year.

Since 2016, the Daugherty Endowment has supported university-affiliated startups launched within the last three years that are commercializing NC State research innovations. 59 total companies have received support from the Daugherty Endowment and have gone on to raise $71.8 million in follow-on funding.

Boosting Early-Stage Startups

Competing for the Top Prize

Each year, the endowment’s business plan competition awards $50,000 of funding to the top three research-based startups. Daugherty awards are unrestricted, allowing awardees to leverage funds for their most pressing business needs, from legal expenses and customer discovery travel to grant writing support. This flexibility sets the program apart from the other other startup funding opportunities that often carry specific spending requirements. 

In 2025, five NC State startups were selected as finalists by the Daugherty Endowment board, a group of seasoned executives and business leaders committed to supporting innovations originating at NC State. Recognizing the strong potential across the entire group of finalists, the board opted to fund all five companies – an expansion made possible by Day of Giving contributions.

Leveraging Day of Giving

This expansion was fueled by the endowment’s strong performance in the 2025 Power Your Pack leaderboard challenge, which saw the program achieve a notable 300% increase in donor support over the previous year.

“This recognition highlights the value our community places on entrepreneurship and innovation at NC State,” said Amy Lubas, director of special projects within the Office of Partnerships, who leads the Daugherty Endowment program. “It’s exciting to see our donors rally behind our research-driven startups, and even more rewarding to be able to directly invest those gifts into five promising companies this year.”

The Daugherty Endowment continues to explore new ways to extend its reach and amplify its support of NC State innovators working to bring university research to market.

To learn more about the Daugherty Endowment and the companies it supports, visit partnerships.ncsu.edu/daugherty-endowment.