Definition of

Endowment

EndowmentThe act and result of providing : granting, contributing, equipping or assigning something is called endowment . Endowment is also that with which the action of endowment is specified.

For example: “The local government announced that it will increase the amount of pensions” , “The fire brigade arrived at the scene of the accident immediately” , “The winner of the tournament will receive a financial prize of 100,000 pesos” .

The idea of ​​staff can be used to name the set of individuals who are assigned to the service of some type of unit (police, health, fire brigade, etc.). In this context, the concept of manning is often associated with the notion of crew .

A financial endowment , on the other hand, is an amount of money that is contributed for a certain purpose. This may be a prize or reward given to the winner of a contest or tournament. The writer who wins the Cervantes Prize , to cite one case, receives a financial award of 125,000 euros .

A government can allocate financial resources to various undertakings or areas. The authorities, through this type of decisions, aim to favor the development of a project or assist organizations or individuals that need support. A city council, in this framework, can increase the amount of scholarships it grants to university students.

The provision can be goods or objects: a provision of books that is delivered to a library, a provision of medical supplies for a first aid room, a provision of balls and sports clothing for a club, etc. This is formally called a financial endowment , and usually has the condition that the assets or money are invested and the main fund remains intact for a certain period or forever.

EndowmentThe financial endowment of colleges and universities can represent large sums of money for a country, as is the case in the United States, where the annual amount at universities such as Harvard amounts to more than a billion dollars. The endowment is usually focused on well-defined areas, such as scholarships or endowed professorships (also called endowed chairs , and are permanent positions that are paid for with the income of a specific fund ).

The concept of genetic endowment is defined as the set of instructions that we inherit from our parents and that determine our biological potential. In technical terms, it is the number of genes and their valence, which modifies the value of the genetic material. If we take corn as an example, its triploid tissue called endosperm can have a number of y+ genes ranging from one to three, and this has a direct impact on its yellowish color; The amount of carotene is proportional to the amount of y+ genes.

If we focus on our species, whether each individual can develop this potential one hundred percent depends largely on certain environmental factors, such as our diet, the study or work environment, the quality of the air, the microorganisms present around us. , etc. Doctors often say that "our health depends on our zip code, rather than our genetic makeup," referring precisely to the importance of the characteristics of the place where we live.

This statement makes special sense when allergy-related diseases enter the equation, since they combine a genetic component with an environmental one: we inherit from our parents the predisposition to certain allergies, but our environment considerably conditions the development of an allergy. Allergic diseases can be triggered by foods, certain plants in our environment or certain substances in the air we breathe, among other factors.