Gifts to Portland State University

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Gifts to Portland State University triple in four years

http://www.pdx.edu/news/gifts-portland-state-university-triple-four-years" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Portland State University has raised over $104 million in private gifts in the last four years, demonstrating a growing culture of philanthropy at Oregon’s largest university.

Over 10,800 individuals, businesses and foundations contributed a record $39.3 million in private gifts to the university in fiscal year 2014—more than triple the $12.8 million raised in fiscal year 2010.

“Our donors are inspired by Portland State’s mission of access and its role as a leading urban university,” said PSU Foundation President/CEO Françoise Aylmer. “We are grateful for this increased level of support and for the increased number of donors who are engaging with us.”

Foundation trustees unanimously appointed Aylmer to the position of Foundation President/CEO in June. On July 1, PSU’s Advancement division of over 55 staff members led by Aylmer transferred its responsibilities to the PSU Foundation, creating a single entity with a single focus—to support Portland State. As Foundation President/CEO, Aylmer oversees management of Foundation operations and assets, all private fundraising, and Alumni Affairs on behalf of the university.

“The Foundation’s new structure will position Portland State for a successful comprehensive fundraising campaign,” said Foundation Board Chair Mark Rosenbaum. “It is an excellent model for enhancing our overall fundraising capabilities and will create opportunities for substantially more scholarship and faculty support dollars and for carefully-planned capital campaigns. In short, it means more resources for students, faculty and campus infrastructure.”

With state funding at new lows, philanthropy is increasingly important to Portland State. Twenty years ago, the state funded 80 percent of the cost of higher education. Now it funds 12 percent, shifting the financial burden to students and their families. As a result, more students borrow to cover costs. For PSU undergraduates with debt, the average debt is $26,000. With nearly 30,000 students, PSU enrolls and graduates more students than any other university in Oregon.

In response, Portland State has made scholarships a top fundraising priority. In fiscal year 2014, 45 percent of gifts to the university were for scholarships and student aid. Other fundraising priorities are capital projects for the School of Business Administration and the Viking Pavilion and Academic Center. Read more here.



Portland State University raised $39.3 million in private gifts in fiscal year 2014—a 34 percent increase over last year and well ahead of its $34.1 million goal.

About the PSU Foundation (PSUF)
Celebrating its 51st year, the PSU Foundation is an independent tax-exempt organization. Gifts advance Portland State University by providing scholarships for students, supporting faculty research and instruction, and enhancing facilities and program development and growth. To give to the University’s fundraising priorities, please contact our campaign office at 503-725-2649 or [email protected].

 

[forestgreen]

Portland State fundraising triples in four years

http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/blog/2014/08/portland-state-fundraising-triples-in-four-years.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Portland State University is on a fundraising hot streak.
The university — Oregon's largest — raised $39.3 million in its most recent fiscal year. That's more than triple what it raised in fiscal 2010 when it raised $12.8 million.
In the past four years the university has raised $104 million.
"Our donors are inspired by Portland State’s mission of access and its role as a leading urban university," said PSU Foundation CEO Françoise Aylmer, in a news release. "We are grateful for this increased level of support and for the increased number of donors who are engaging with us."
More than 10,800 individuals and organizations contributed in the most recent fiscal year. The money will be used to support students, faculty and building projects.
Aylmer was appointed to her position in June. The foundation has since been restructured to maximize its ability to raise money.
Fundraising is increasingly important for state universities. Oregon State University this year announced its most recent capital campaign topped $1 billion. The University of Oregon is expected to set its sights between $2 billion and $3 billion when it launches a new capital campaign this year.
In a news release, Portland State said 20 years ago state funds covered 80 percent of the cost of higher education. That's been reduced to 12 percent, according to Portland State. The average graduate has $26,000 in debt.

 

[forestgreen]

Portland State University raises millions for scholarships, ahead of schedule

http://www.oregonlive.com/education/index.ssf/2014/11/portland_state_university_rais.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Christine and David Vernier, successful Portland-area entrepreneurs who never attended Portland State University, announced Tuesday evening they will donate $3.6 million for scholarships to help generations of PSU students afford college.

Their gift, giant by PSU standards, highlights an unusually successful drive by Portland State president Wim Wiewel and his fundraising team to win donations for the need he says is "right at the top of the list:" scholarships for needy, bright and diverse young Oregonians to earn degrees at PSU.

With the Verniers' gift and another anonymous $3 million donation also announced Tuesday, Portland State has raised $44 million for scholarships in just over two years, exceeding the pace that Wiewel had set to raise $50 million in 3 1/2 years, he said.

Last week, the University of Oregon reeled in a single $50 million donation from alumna Connie Ballmer and her Microsoft billionaire husband Steve Ballmer, $25 million of which went to endow scholarships for Oregon students.

At Portland State, where until a few years ago a $10,000 contribution was considered a "major" gift, donations haven't come in the same ginormous amounts from the same star-studded donors.

But Wiewel and the head of the Portland State University Foundation, Françoise Aylmer, both said the university has made staggering gains over the past three or four years. The endowment designated for scholarships grew from $15 million to $25 million over that period, Aylmer said.

Largely as a result, the number of Portland State students who received university-funded scholarships rose from 576 in 2010-11 to more than 1,000 last year, Aylmer said.

Karla Andrade, a Portland State senior from Klamath Falls, says she is an example of just how important those scholarships, which average about $2,500, can be.

The aspiring Spanish-language journalist works about 30 hours a week at a Spanish-language marketing firm to help pay her rent and afford textbooks. Still, her senior year would have been unaffordable without a donor-funded $2,000 scholarship that closed the gap between what college costs and what she could afford.

"I am so incredibly grateful," she said, noting the gift will allow her to become the first in her family to graduate from college.

The daughter of U.S. citizen parents who immigrated from El Salvador, and who work physically demanding factory jobs, she has worked hard to be a role model to other young Latinos who question whether college is for them. Her success should buoy others, she said.

Back in the 1960s when Christine and David Vernier were college students at Ohio State University, both relied on scholarships to help them pay their way. But the costs of college tuition, room and board were low enough that a working-class student could afford college by working part-time without taking on debt, Christine Vernier said. That is no longer the case.

"So many students graduate now with huge debt," she said.

The couple, who founded a Beaverton-based company that designs and makes all kinds of sensors and other equipment used in high school and college science classes, used to live right next to Portland State. They still live in the city of Portland nearby. That proximity helped them meet Portland State faculty and students and exposed them to students struggling to afford their educations.

Seeing that need first-hand, caring deeply about the economic vitality of Oregon and having the good fortune to have built a successful company and accumulated significant wealth all prompted them to give PSU millions, they said.

David Vernier earned his master's degree at Oregon State University and the couple have also made gifts, although smaller in size, to OSU, he said.

David Vernier majored in physics and worked as a science teacher in Hillsboro. Christine Vernier majored in and worked in social work. So they want much of their scholarship donation to go to students studying science, math and engineering or social work.

Part of why they are so excited to see their millions help students at PSU, they said, is because it serves so many students who are low-income, minorities and from families where they will be the first to graduate from college. "For Oregon, it's an incredibly diverse place," David Vernier said.

Helping change the trajectory for this generation of high school graduates could pay off for Oregon for years to come, Christine Vernier said.

"If we can help one student, and they're successful, then their children are probably going to end up in college too."

 

[forestgreen]

Campus Notes

Scholarship fund tops $44 million thanks to new donors

http://www.pdx.edu/president/campus-notes" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Portland State University leaders announced that PSU has raised more than $44 million for scholarships from donors who recognize the increasing financial needs of college students.

President Wim Wiewel said increased funding for scholarships is vital at a time when college costs have risen in the wake of years of declining state support for higher education. Nearly 60 percent of PSU’s 28,000 students receive financial aid, and most of that aid comes from loans. For students who take out loans, the average debt upon graduation is $26,000.

“Part of our serve-the-city mission is to make our academic excellence as accessible as possible,” Wiewel told a scholarship event audience Tuesday night at Smith Memorial Student Union. “It’s one thing to bring students into PSU and quite another to make sure they come out the other side with an excellent education, not overburdened by debt. Scholarships make that happen.”

David and Christine Vernier, founders of a Beaverton-based software firm, announced a gift of $3.6 million. David Vernier, who with his wife was awarded the Simon Benson Award for Philanthropy last month, said their gift will help remove financial barriers for students who otherwise may not be able to afford college, particularly students who are the first in their family to attend college.

The owners of Portland-based Pizzicato Pizza restaurants also announced that they are establishing a PSU scholarship program for their 300 employees. Pizzicato President Tracy Frankel and CEO Felix Rippel said many of their workers have high school diplomas and need both aid and encouragement to go to take the next step into a college experience.

Karla Andrade is a Communication major at PSU with an ambition to become a Spanish-language broadcaster. A Klamath Falls native and daughter of Salvadoran immigrants, she said the scholarship that she received has enabled her to complete her studies and graduate with a bachelor’s degree next spring,

“This is why I am so appreciative for all of the donors at PSU,” she told the audience. “It is because of your generosity and kindness that I can finish school.”

PSU Foundation President Francoise Aylmer said the university’s original goal two years ago in launching the “Creating Futures” initiative was to raise $50 million for scholarships. But she said response from donors has been so “overwhelming and inspiring” that PSU plans “to keep going and continue beyond $50 million. We need to.”

For more information on the “Creating Futures” scholarship initiative, go to http://www.pdx.edu/giving/creating-futures" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Portland business leaders pledge to push for higher ed funding
Portland business leaders said they would push for better funding for higher education this year after hearing from a panel of education and industry leaders, including Portland State University President Wim Wiewel.

Speaking to the Portland Business Alliance, Wiewel said the best way to increase skilled workers in Oregon is for state lawmakers to restore cuts to higher education.

Further cuts means higher tuition just to stay whole, he said, and “inevitably that means higher education becomes unaffordable to many.” Philanthropy can help fill that gap, he said, but the state has the primary responsibility to ensure universities have the funds to provided an educated workforce.

“Without that, we will not be able to continue our economic growth and we will have rising inequality,” Wiewel said.

Universities need to focus additional resources on recruiters, advisors and faculty to ensure Oregon high school graduates enroll in college and get an excellent education and stay until they graduate.

Wiewel was on a panel that included Jeremy Brown, president of Portland Community College, Duncan Wyse, president of the Oregon Business Council, and Lori Luchak-Olund, president of Miles Fiberglass & Composites, a local manufacturer. Kerry Tymchuk, director of the Oregon Historical Society, moderated.

The panel was hosted by the PBA, which wanted to explore the critical connections between higher education and the region’s economy.

Wyse, who also sits on the Higher Education Coordinating Commission, said that in the past someone without a college degree could still make a middle class living. But starting in 1980, “a great divergence began” in which income for those with degrees far outpaced income for those without.

Today, the demand for skilled, educated workers is greater than ever, he said. He, too, encouraged businesses to push for better higher education funding.

Sandra McDonough, who heads the business alliance, said she and other business leaders were scheduled to meet with Gov. John Kitzhaber in the next few days and would lobby for more dollars to state universities.

 

[forestgreen]

Lemelson Foundation gifts to PSU exceed $1 million this year

http://www.pdx.edu/giving/news/lemelson-foundation-gifts-psu-exceed-1-million-year" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


and

Dr. Thomas A. Chambers establishes new endowed scholarship for aspiring teachers

http://www.pdx.edu/giving/news/dr-thomas-chambers-establishes-new-endowed-scholarship-aspiring-teachers" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[martymoose]

I wonder what the behind the scene details were on this...

http://www.oregonlive.com/education/index.ssf/2015/08/portland_state_university_100.html#incart_m-rpt-1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[VikThunder]

Here's some details....

http://www.oregonlive.com/education/index.ssf/2015/08/portland_states_100_million_man_has_made_big_promises_--_and_failed_to_keep_them_--_again_and_again.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[martymoose]

Here's some details....

http://www.oregonlive.com/education/index.ssf/2015/08/portland_states_100_million_man_has_made_big_promises_--_and_failed_to_keep_them_--_again_and_again.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Why do I have a feeling that his fortune is comprised of those gold $500 bills that come in a box of Monopoly?

 

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Bill and Ricky Korach establish endowed scholarship in PSU's Graduate School of Education

http://www.portlandstate-foundation.org/bill-and-ricky-korach-establish-endowed-scholarship-psus-graduate-school-education" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Bill and Ricky Korach, two well-known Lake Oswego educators and PSU Graduate School of Education (GSE) alumni, have established a new scholarship for aspiring teachers. The Bill and Ricky Korach Graduate Teacher Education Endowed Scholarship will continue their lifelong legacy and dedication to the profession. The scholarship will support GSE students preparing for careers as K–12 classroom teachers. Academic merit and financial need are both considerations. The scholarship will be awarded for the first time in 2016.

The establishment of this endowed scholarship is no surprise to anyone familiar with the Koraches and their enduring passion for learning. “Education is about hope, promise, and possibility,” they stated. “We feel fortunate to be able to provide an additional opportunity for PSU students now and beyond our lifetimes.”

The Koraches both received their Doctor of Education degrees from Portland State University in 1996.

Ricky earned her Master of Science degree from PSU in 1986. She taught English at Lake Oswego High School for 46 years and served as the English department chair for 30 of those years. She retired in 2011 after teaching more than 6,000 students. The school has named a wing of the building in her honor.

Bill began his career as an English teacher, served as the principal of Lake Oswego High School, and was the superintendent of the Lake Oswego School District for 27 years before retiring in 2014 as the longest-serving school superintendent in Oregon. He was named PSU’s Outstanding Alumni of the Year and earned Lewis & Clark’s Leadership in Educational Administration award. In 1998, the American Association of School Administrators honored him as Oregon Superintendent of the Year. Now retired, he will teach part-time for the GSE in the Continuing Administrator program.

During their tenures in the district, things were not always easy. In 1990, Measure 5 was passed statewide, which limited the amount of property taxes that could be collected for Oregon schools. Anticipating serious budget shortfalls, the Koraches focused their efforts on the development and support of the Lake Oswego Schools Foundation—one of the most successful regional school foundations for providing critical funding to schools.

Both Koraches believe that nothing is more important than the education, safety, and well-being of children. Their professional lives have been dedicated to a heartfelt belief in the importance of service for others. They have chosen to provide an endowed scholarship within the PSU Graduate School of Education to continue that service into the future.

The donors wish to share their appreciation of Portland State University “for being in the forefront of innovative approaches to and for doctoral studies, allowing them [Koraches] to collaborate on complementary dissertations focused on teacher leadership.” They support the PSU Graduate School of Education because their philanthropy is focused “on educational innovation with meaningful initiatives that push the boundaries of the academic status quo.”

 

[forestgreen]

PSU donor profile: Dr. Thomas Chambers

http://blog.oregonlive.com/myoregon/2015/12/donor_profile_dr_thomas_chambe.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Last spring, Thomas Chambers made a $1.2 million gift to PSU, to establish the Thomas A. Chambers Endowed Scholarship for Aspiring Teachers in the Graduate School of Education.

His experience teaching at two community colleges in California helped inspire his gift to PSU.

"I want to give back to the profession I love by endowing a scholarship that will help promising teachers prepare for rewarding careers in the classroom," he says.

Starting in 2016, students in the GSE's teacher preparation programs will be able to apply for the scholarship. Preference is for students who have transferred to PSU from an Oregon community college.

Originally from Portland, Chambers studied for three years at what was then Portland State College before transferring to the University of Oregon, where he graduated in 1969. Chambers also has a degree from Harvard University and a Ph.D. from the University of Oregon.

Chambers worked at Riverside City Community College and Golden West College before retiring 2004. He moved back to Portland in 2012.

He dedicated the scholarship to his parents, John and Mary Chambers, and to his professors at Portland State.