endowment

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun The act of endowing.
• noun Funds or property donated to an institution, individual, or group as a source of income.
• noun A natural gift, ability, or quality.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun The act of settling dower on a woman.
• noun The act of settling a fund or permanent provision for the support of any person or object, as a student, a professorship, a school, a hospital, etc.
• noun That which is bestowed or settled; property, fund, or revenue permanently appropriated to any object: as, the endowments of a church, hospital, or college.
• noun That which is given or bestowed on the person or mind; gift of nature; in the plural, natural equipment of body or mind, or both; attributes or aptitudes.
• noun Synonyms Bequest, present, gift, fund.
• noun Acquirements, Acquisitions, Attainments, etc. (see acquirement); gift, talent, capacity, genius, parts. See comparison under genius.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun The act of bestowing a dower, fund, or permanent provision for support.
• noun That which is bestowed or settled on a person or an institution; property, fund, or revenue permanently appropriated to any object.
• noun That which is given or bestowed upon the person or mind; gift of nature; accomplishment; natural capacity; talents; -- usually in the plural.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun Something with which a person or thing is endowed.
• noun Funds invested for the support and benefit of a not-for-profit institution.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun the capital that provides income for an institution
• noun natural abilities or qualities
• noun the act of endowing with a permanent source of income