NYU Stern School of Business NYU, Greenwich Village, NYC. Image credits: Wikimedia Commons
NYU Stern’s alumni profile , published on June 5, 2025, reports that Finch made a $10 million bequest and jump-started it with a $150,000 cash gift to create the James S. A separate $150,000 contribution to the Investment Analysis Group ’s student fund Finch also volunteers on the advisory board of the Investment Analysis Group, an undergraduate student investment club at NYU Stern. The same profile says Finch made a $150,000 immediate-use contribution to the club’s investment fund to help the students grow the portfolio.
Because it shows him how far his experience reaches, he added that feedback from alumni who have reached their goals still comes as a bit of a shock,. Because the $10 million is a bequest, it will come through his estate in the future and is not money the school currently holds.
NYU Stern’s alumni news says that alumni and friends give toward scholarships for many personal reasons, and that some faculty members have also established endowed scholarships for the students they teach. Finch said teaching showed him how many students had scrimped and saved to reach Stern, and that he saw no reason not to help them succeed. Finch said he hopes his gifts will inspire others in the Stern community to make bequests of their own. He described the school as a “giant co-op” in which everyone is a stakeholder, and said that contributing financially benefits teachers, researchers, students and the institution itself.
The Stern School of Business is part of New York University, and scholarships funded by donations are one of the ways the university helps students cover tuition costs. One recent example is Jim Finch, who teaches the Financial Services Industry class at NYU Stern and is listed on the school’s faculty page as a clinical professor of finance. Finch Scholarship. His giving has two parts, a long-term commitment through his estate and immediate cash gifts. The profile’s headline describes the bequest as funding undergraduate scholarships. The club manages a value-focused equity portfolio that is structured as part of NYU’s endowment. New York University, Washington Square East. Image credits: Wikimedia Commons
