Published: July 03, 2008 10:18 am            

It rained for 40 days

Money, that is — OSU fundraising blitz will double endowed chairs

Oklahoma State University raised enough money in 40 days to more than double its number of endowed chairs and professorships.

The university announced Wednesday it raised $66.8 million from approximately 900 individuals, foundations and companies between May 21 and June 30.

The donation initiative was sparked by a $100 million gift from Boone Pickens. It was designed to match other donations to OSU’s endowed chairs and professorship programs and allow donors to name the endowments.

Also, the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education had a program that matched 100 percent of donations for endowments. It dramatically changed Tuesday, with a statewide limit of $5 million and only a 25 percent match of gifts larger than $250,000.

The deadline came almost 18 months faster than the school expected. When OSU received word the window was closing, it started “fundraising at warp speed,” as President Burns Hargis put it.

The total impact of the effort, including matches from Pickens and the state, is $333.6 million.

“When you think about the shortness of time and difficulty in people putting that kind of money together that fast — most people don’t have a million in their checking account — I’m stunned and thrilled,” Hargis said in a telephone interview Wednesday. “I’ve never seen anything like this. It’s phenomenal.”

For comparison, the University of Oklahoma raised $61 million from May 1 through June 30. The total impact is $122 million after a state match.

OSU estimates it will add more than 175 endowed positions with the money. Prior to this drive, the school had 101.

For donations after the deadline, $33.2 million remains of Pickens’ gift and $33.2 million from the state’s match of his initial donation. Until that $66.4 million runs out, gifts will turn into $3 for each $1 given.

Once that money is exhausted, OSU’s fundraising focus will be on buildings, as it has been for the past few years, and scholarships.

Hargis said this effort showed the value of a match “in urging people to make decisions such as this.”

OSU Foundation President and CEO Kirk Jewell agreed.

“I’m sure there will be future conversations with Boone about the incentive it creates when he does give this type of gift,” said Jewell by phone Wednesday, noting many first-time donors gave in this span. “(Pickens) stepped up several years ago on the athletic side and now he’s doing the same thing on the academic side. Without his generosity, there’s no telling where we would be.”

Jewell added, “On one hand, (fundraising like this is) unprecedented in our history, but I think we will see more of this type of thing over the next few years. Burns is so good with people and not afraid to ask anybody. I think we will see some phenomenal results in the years in front of us. We’ll look back and not be able to believe how far we’ve come.”

OSU has not announced all the donations. Two were unveiled Tuesday.

They were: $500,000 from Jim and Lynne Williams to create professorships in nutritional science and engineering; and $250,000 from Farm Credit Associations of Oklahoma for an agricultural finance professorship.

        

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