There are no restrictions attached to the gift but a preference is that the income from the fund be used for the presentation of an annual lecture or series of lectures on the subject: Capitalism with the intent of providing the furtherance of educating young Americans concerning the economic system and philosophy which made the United States of America the greatest nation of the modern world. The endowment was established through an estate gift of Carrol C. Hall, a longtime Springfield resident who passed away in 1995, who worked for 38 years as a science teacher, including 28 years at Springfield High School. In 1945, while continuing to teach, he co-founded Horace Mann Insurance Company and served as the company's first president.