Endowed chairs are financed for a specific period, generally either five or ten years, by a donor. After the donor’s aid to the professorship expires, the professorship is maintained by the university. Endowed professors have the same rights and obligations as other tenured professors and are not obligated to follow instructions issued by the donor.

Extraordinary program professorships are professorships that are funded based on special programs with public resources (e.g., from the DFG or the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research) during a specific period.

At present, the following endowed chairs and extraordinary program professorships are being financed at Freie Universität Berlin.