NYU Stern’s generous alumni and friends give toward scholarships for many personal reasons—for example, as a way to pay it forward if they received financial support for their education. Over the years, members of Stern's faculty have also chosen to give back to the students they teach by establishing endowed scholarships. Recently, Professor James "Jim" Finch joined this community of generous faculty who have made significant contributions to the School's scholarship efforts. Finch, who teaches the Financial Services Industry class to Stern students, has made a $10 million bequest—and jump-started it with a $150,000 cash gift—to create the James S. Finch Scholarship.

Finch explained, “I had the good fortune to retire at a fairly young age. I traveled around the world for three years, and I wanted to do something in terms of giving back. When former Professor Charlie Murphy, a Credit Suisse colleague, retired, I replaced him in 2016. During my time here, I have realized that this School has an amazing impact, especially because so many of the students have scrimped and saved and fought their way into attending Stern, as a path to take advantage of the opportunities in life. My view was, well, if there's anything I can do to help students succeed, why wouldn't I?”

 Among the pleasures of teaching, Finch said, is gratitude from former students. “It’s always a bit of a shock when I get external feedback from alumni who have achieved their goals. It makes you realize that your life experience is really impacting a lot of different lives in ways you never thought possible. It’s a wonderful feeling.”

In addition to teaching, Finch volunteers his time on the advisory board of the Investment Analysis Group (IAG), Stern’s undergraduate student investment club that manages a fundamental, value-focused equity portfolio structured as part of NYU’s endowment. Along with his recent scholarship commitments, Finch has made a $150,000 immediate-use contribution to IAG’s investment fund to help the students grow their portfolio. “I want them to get more scale so they can add more freshmen to join, because the quality of work they do—the sophistication and thoroughness of their analyses and pitches—is as strong as anything I saw in my professional career.”

Finch expressed the hope that his gifts will serve as a catalyst for others to make testamentary gifts. “My wish is that this inspires the Stern community. The School is like a giant co-op—we’re all stakeholders. Contributing financially to its success benefits everyone: teachers, researchers, students, and the institution itself in terms of its franchise and its impact.”