Iowa State University Alumni Association| online edition | winter 2008

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150 YEARS OF PHILANTHROPY
A HISTORY OF GIVING AT IOWA STATE

The following is an abbreviated history of philanthropy at Iowa State University and of the ISU Foundation. The evolution of giving began quietly, in the early days of the college, with the donation of agricultural gifts, and bells, and swans. Today’s fundraising efforts are more strategic, and the generous gifts of alumni and friends have forever enriched Iowa State’s programs, its faculty, its student body, and its campus.

1870
Donations to the new Iowa Agricultural College include 100 rhubarb roots, an industrial plow, an American bee hive, garden seeds, mowers, plows, quartz geodes, a copy of the Dubuque Daily Times, and cattle portraits.

1878
The Iowa State College Alumni Association is founded on Nov. 12, with Edgar Stanton (class of 1872) as the first president.

1899
Edgar Stanton donates the first 10 bells of the carillon that will be housed in the newly constructed Campanile on central campus.

1904
Construction of Alumni Hall begins. Funds for the structure are donated by students, faculty, alumni, and friends. The building costs a total of $35,000.

1914
The ISC Alumni Association employs a professional staff and establishes an office in Alumni Hall.

1916
LaVerne Noyes, a member of the first graduating class (1872) donates $10,000 for landscaping the campus and for constructing the lake that will later be named Lake LaVerne.

1932
The ISC Alumni Association is officially incorporated to promote the general welfare of Iowa State by fostering a spirit of loyalty and commitment among students, former students, alumni, faculty, staff, parents, and friends.

That same year, a subsidiary organization known as the Iowa State College Alumni Achievement Fund is incorporated. This move recognizes the need for private financial support and the willingness of alumni and friends to provide such support. The Fund’s efforts are largely centered on annual giving, a direct-mail appeal for scholarships and other university programs.

1934
“Alumni Fund Facts” published in 1934 lists the following:
• Most contributors: Class of 1909 (14 contributors)
• Largest sum contributed:
Class of 1905 ($124)
• Largest average contribution: Class of 1892 ($35 average)

1935
Two swans, Lancelot and Elaine, are donated to the college by the VEISHEA Central Committee.

1937
The ISC Agricultural Foundation is established to operate 12 distressed farms in order to demonstrate how such land in Iowa can be rehabilitated.

1938
The Iowa State College Research Foundation, Inc., is created with the purpose of paying the costs of financing patents from inventions by members of the faculty. From 1934 until 1938 the Board of Patent Trustees of the ISC Alumni Association has rights to all pat-entable processes and devices growing out of college-supported research.

1946
National Cyclone Club, the annual giving program to support Iowa State’s student-athletes, is founded to build greater interest in athletics and provide additional financial support. The organization’s original name is the 630 Club. Today the National Cyclone Club boasts 7,442 members.

1949
Edward R. “Ed” Hergenrather (class of 1940) is appointed the first director of field activities for the Iowa State College Alumni Association, where he directs the Alumni Fund, an annual giving program for all alumni and friends of the college.

1954
The Stanton Memorial Carillon Foundation is incorporated “to preserve, improve, and further the advancement of the carillon” at Iowa State. The foundation still meets on an annual basis.

ISC president James H. Hilton (class of 1923) proposes construction of an educational/cultural/athletic complex during his address to the faculty at the fall convocation. Hilton’s dream will eventually become the Iowa State Center and bring a marked change in the scope of the institution’s fundraising program.

1955
The Alumni Achievement Fund is awarded citations from Time-Life and from the American Alumni Council for excellence in direct mailing campaigns. In five years, contributions have increased more than five-fold.

1957
The Alumni Achievement Fund advances the money to buy a six-acre tract of land near Greybull, Wyo., for a permanent geology camp.

1958
The Iowa State College Founda-tion, a private, nonprofit organization established by a group of alumni and friends of the college, is incorporated in July. The primary purpose of the new organization will be, according to its articles of incorporation, “to accept, hold, administer, invest, and disburse, for educational and scientific purposes, such funds as may be given to it by any person, firm, or corporation.”

Volunteer alumni and community leaders of the ISC Foundation launch Iowa State’s first major capital campaign to raise funds to build the Iowa State Center.

1962
C.Y. Stephens (class of 1925), national chairman of the Iowa State Center campaign, gives $1 million to the campaign. University staff members pledge approximately $225,000 to the center.

Also in 1962, the pledge class of Alpha Sigma Phi social fraternity raises $100 to purchase a pair of swans for Lake LaVerne to replace the swans that died during the year.

1963
Henry (1904 civil engineering) and Ann Brunnier donate their extensive art collection to Iowa State University. Their donation is now part of the permanent collection of the Brunnier Art Museum, located in the Iowa State Center.

1968
The Order of the Knoll, a new organization to assist the advancement of the university, is formed. Eighty-one charter members pledge to contribute a minimum of $1,000 per year for 10 years. Today, the Order of the Knoll remains Iowa State’s most prestigious donor recognition organization.

A new project of the ISU Alumni Achievement Fund, the University Parents’ Fund, is established.
The new program makes it possible for parents of students to lend financial support which will directly benefit the student body. H.J. Schroeder, widowed father of eight children, five of whom had already enrolled at Iowa State, is the first Parents’ Fund chairman.

1969
C.Y. Stephens Auditorium (named for C.Y. Stephens, a successful retail dairy businessman), the first of Iowa State Center’s four buildings, opens this year, followed by Hilton Coliseum in 1971, Fisher Theater in 1974, and the Scheman Continuing Education Building in 1975. Total cost of the project is $27 million.

1974
The ISU Achievement Fund board authorizes a land-use study of the four corners of property located at the intersection of U.S. Highway 30 and Elwood Drive (now University Boulevard). It is decided that the best use for this “gateway” to the university would be a top-quality hotel. A privately funded for-profit corporation is created, with 35 friends and alumni, as limited partners, contributing $1 million in equity. Another $3.5 million is borrowed, and the Gateway Center Hotel is built.

The Achievement Fund provides a line of start-up credit and creates a separate corporation, Gateway Center, Ltd. The limited partners later gift their shares to the Achievement Fund, and the ISU Foundation now owns 100 percent of the Gateway Hotel and Conference Center.

1980
The ISU Achievement Foundation is created as a new entity separate from the ISU Achievement Fund and the ISU Foundation. The Achievement Foundation is now the primary fundraising organization for the university.

One of the earliest endowed faculty positions is established: the Glenn Murphy Professor of Engineering. Within a few years, two more key endowed chairs will be announced: the Pioneer Hi-Bred International Agribusiness Endowment Chair, and the Palmer Chair for Electrical Engineering.

1982
Foundation governors begin a “Campaign for Excellence” to raise $4 million for library expansion, $4 million for an Iowa State Center endowment, $2 million for research and instructional equipment, and $5 million for a general excellence endowment. The campaign is later named “Excellence in the Eighties,” with a goal of $50 million to be raised over five years and with the added objectives of endowments for chairs and professorships, research grants, and faculty enhancement, as well as “Scholarships for Excellence.”

1986
Green Hills Retirement Community, a quality living experience and health-care facility for Iowa State’s retired faculty, alumni, and friends, is launched by the Achievement Fund Board of Trustees. Green Hills is conceived by the Board to provide a top-quality living environment near the university. The retirement community is located near the intersection of U.S. Highway 30 and University Boulevard.

1987
A research park is established south of the campus on land purchased by the ISU Achievement Foundation. The creation of the Iowa State University Research Park raises the interaction between the university and industries to a new level and facilitates technology transfer from academia to the marketplace.

1988
The ISU Achievement Founda-tion, established in 1980, is renamed the ISU Foundation.

The ISU Foundation launches “Partnership for Prominence,” a five-year capital campaign. The campaign goal – $150 million – is the largest in Iowa State history. Volunteer leaders for the campaign are Owen Newlin (’51 agriculture, ’53 M.S., ’55 Ph.D.), chair, and Steve Zumbach (’73 agricultural business, ’80 Ph.D. economics), deputy chair.

1990
Oversight of the annual program fund (the ISU Achievement Fund) moves from the ISU Alumni Association to the ISU Foundation.

1991
Disc jockey Kenn McCloud locks himself in the Campanile, whose bells have been silenced due to lack of funding, and vows not to come out until he has raised $10,000 – enough to pay a guest carillonneur. The five-day lock-in results not only in raising $10,000 but in the eventual donation of a million-dollar endowment that will ensure the tower and the bells’ continued health.

1992
The ISU Foundation’s Phone-Center opens. Today, the Phone-Center contacts more than 150,000 alumni, parents, and friends each year and now raises over $3 million annually to support key university programs.

1993
“Partnership for Prominence” surpasses its new goal, with a total of $185.3 million raised by February. The grand total on June 30, 1993, the official closing date of the campaign, is $214.5 million. This total places ISU in 12th place among public university campaigns.

1994
In July, the ISU Foundation launches a $26 million campaign to secure private scholarship support in six categories: National Merit, National Achievement, President’s Leadership Initiative, Christina Hixson Opportunity Awards, athletics, and general scholarships.

1995
The President’s Scholarship Campaign goal is increased to $50 million and becomes a comprehensive fundraising campaign entitled “Campaign Destiny:
To Become the Best.” The original campaign goal is $300 million, and Chuck Johnson (’65 industrial administration) is the campaign chair.

The Christina Hixson Opportunity Awards are introduced, providing financial support for Iowa students. Hixson invested $11.3 million from the Lied Foundation Trust to create the need-based scholarship program, awarding one scholarship per Iowa county – 100 each year. To date, hundreds of Iowa students have succeeded at Iowa State because of Hixson’s vision.

Reiman Gardens, a botanical garden just south of Jack Trice Stadium, is dedicated. The gardens – which have today grown to 14 acres and become one of the state’s premier attractions with the addition of the Christina Reiman Butterfly Wing and a 5,000-square-foot conservatory – are funded through the leadership gift of Roy (’57 journalism) and Bobbi (’06 honorary alumna) Reiman of Greendale, Wis., along with gifts from other alumni and friends.

1997
A major gift from John and Mary Pappajohn of Des Moines launches the Pappajohn Center for Entre-
preneurship, providing assistance, connections, and corporate-world resources for faculty and students.

1999
The Department of Agronomy receives an $80 million anonymous gift, the largest gift to an American public university to date. The gift creates an endowment that will be used to find innovative ways to help the department become a world leader in charting the future of agriculture.

2000
“Campaign Destiny” exceeds its original $300 million goal by more than 150 percent, reaching an unprecedented $458.6 million by its end on June 30. Donors contribute nearly $104 million to create 614 new undergraduate and graduate scholarship programs. Buildings and equipment are other significant areas for donors’ gifts. More than 50 building projects have been earmarked for improvements in Iowa State’s teaching, learning, and outreach environments. “Campaign Destiny” funds building projects throughout campus, including Reiman Gardens, Howe and Hoover Halls for the College of Engineering, the Palmer Human Development and Family Studies Building, Kocimski Auditorium for the College of Design, Gerdin Business Building, Jischke Honors Building, Extension/4-H Youth Building, the Roy J. Carver Co-Laboratory for the Plant Sciences Institute, and the enhancement and expansion of Jack Trice Stadium.

In addition, “Campaign Destiny” gifts provide resources to develop new academic curricula through such initiatives as the Center for Entrepreneurship, Plant Sciences Institute, and ISU’s first named school, the Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication. Donors also fund 22 new faculty professorships and chairs.

At its close in June 2000, eight of the top 10 largest gifts ever received by Iowa State have occurred during “Campaign Destiny,” and four of the top 10 largest gifts to any institution of higher education in Iowa have been given to Iowa State during the campaign.

2001
A two-year, $50 million initiative entitled “Investing in People” is announced by ISU President Gregory Geoffroy in October. The focus is on securing gifts to endow student scholarships and fellowships, plus faculty professorships and chairs.

The ISU Foundation moves to a new location south of Highway 30 to provide greater access to donors and the Ames community.

2002
A campaign to raise $9 million to renovate historic Morrill Hall is announced.

2003
“Investing in People” ends in November, with $51.5 million in commitments ($39.7 million for student support and $11.8 million for faculty support).

2005
Ground is broken on the Iowa State University Alumni Center in October following a fundraising effort that includes a lead gift from Bobbi and Roy Reiman. The building is scheduled to be completed in April 2008, and a dedication will be held during Homecoming 2008.

2007
Iowa State surpasses 100 endowed faculty positions.

Morrill Hall opens to the public in March and is rededicated in April. The historic renovation project totals $10.28 million, $7.4 million of which is secured from private gifts. More than 3,600 individual donors contribute to the building campaign, including Nancy and Lyle (’66 ag business) Campbell. The Campbells, along with President Gregory and Kathy Geoffroy, chaired the campaign.

Iowa State University launches the public phase of its $800 million Campaign Iowa State: With Pride and Purpose fundraising initiative on Oct. 19 in Hilton Coliseum. This largest-ever fundraising campaign, chaired by Roger Underwood (’80 agricultural business) of Ames, is scheduled to conclude in 2010. As of Dec. 1, 2007, Iowa State has raised more than $528 million in gifts and commitments from more than 100,000 donors.