{"id":6237,"date":"2023-07-23T01:11:13","date_gmt":"2023-07-23T01:11:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/leadership\/anonymous-donor-pledges-second-500-million-gift-to-mcpherson-college\/"},"modified":"2023-07-23T01:11:14","modified_gmt":"2023-07-23T01:11:14","slug":"anonymous-donor-pledges-second-500-million-gift-to-mcpherson-college","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=6237","title":{"rendered":"Anonymous Donor Pledges Second $500 Million Gift To McPherson College"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In a stunning development, McPherson College announced on Friday that it had received a second commitment of $500 million from an anonymous donor, who had pledged $500 million last year as part of a unique giving challenge. Combined, the two pledges are among the largest private gifts ever received by an American college.<\/p>\n

As a result of the gifts, the college says that its endowment will eventually be worth $1.59 billion, resulting in what its news release claimed will be the largest endowment of any small liberal arts college in the United States.<\/p>\n

Last year, officials at McPherson, a private, Kansas liberal arts college with an enrollment of fewer than 1,000 students, announced it had received a commitment of up to $500 million from the anonymous donor.<\/p>\n

The gift came in an unusual form \u2014 a \u201cdouble-match\u201d estate gift, in which the donor would contribute two dollars for every dollar given by others, up to a total of $500 million for the college\u2019s endowment. Both estate gift commitments and outright gifts to the college\u2019s endowment qualified for the match.<\/p>\n

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McPherson had until June 30, 2023 to reach that goal, and this week it confirmed that it had, in fact, met the $500 million double-match challenge. But that was not the end of the good news. The big reveal? The anonymous donor was committing an additional $500 million estate gift for a total commitment of $1 billion.<\/p>\n

In recognition of the gift, the McPherson College Board of Trustees voted to name the McPherson College endowment after two late, beloved alumni and professors at McPherson College, Drs. John Ward and John Burkholder.<\/p>\n

The college, which is probably best known for its unique, nationally recognized Automotive Restoration Technology degree program (comedian and car collector Jay Leno is one of its financial supporters), said that most of the donations used to meet the challenge will be received over time as estate gifts.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday is historic, not just for McPherson College, but for all small liberal arts colleges in America,\u201d said Michael Schneider, McPherson\u2019s president. \u201cI am incredibly grateful to our anonymous donor for giving us an unprecedented opportunity\u2014and responsibility\u2014to build and implement our strategic vision of becoming a destination learning community.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, the work begins to build a bridge to our future endowment,\u201d Schneider added, in the news release. \u201cWe need to carefully plan how the income from the endowment is deployed to reimagine and construct the campus of the future, build a much-needed rural health pipeline in Kansas, create a center for the future of automotive engineering and work to make college more affordable for all our students. There has never been a better day to be a part of the McPherson College community!\u201d<\/p>\n

At the time of the initial challenge, McPherson indicated that it planned to use the gift to fund the college\u2019s Community by Design<\/em> strategic plan, which included four initiatives:<\/p>\n