College selected for $4.5 million Bonner endowment

In April, Maryville College President Dr. Gerald Gibson received word that the Bonner Foundation Trustees had voted unanimously to invite the College to participate in the Bonner Endowment. The agreement comes with a $4.5 million grant to establish the Bonner Endowment to annually support 60 Bonner Scholars.

In a letter to Gibson, Kenneth Kunzman, chair of the Bonner Foundation Board of Trustees, wrote: “After Mrs. Bonner’s death, the Foundation’s trustees decided to endow additional institutions that met certain programmatic and financial standards in regards to the Bonner Scholars Program. They also established an endowment process that schools would follow in order to receive such an endowment.”

That process includes a requirement that the College match the Bonner Foundation’s grant with $2 million – a $1 million “completion grant” that will be added to the foundation’s $4.5 million to create the Bonner Scholar Endowment; and another $1 million to establish the Bonner Operating Endowment, which will be used to support activities surrounding the Bonner Scholars Program.

The College has until Aug. 1, 2009 to raise the funds necessary for the match.

To date, more than 15 participating Bonner colleges and universities have been selected for the endowment. The goal, according to Bonner Foundation President Wayne Meisel, is to endow every institution with which the foundation has had a long-term relationship. Meisel said his hope is that the endowments will strengthen both the institutions and the scholarship programs, ensuring the programs’ continuance. The role of the Bonner Foundation in the day-to-day operations at the schools will likely change, he explained, but exactly how has yet to be determined.

After receiving news of the trustees’ vote, Gibson said he was excited about the Bonner Scholars Program living on in perpetuity on the Maryville College campus.

“For 15 years, the Bonner Foundation, through its Bonner Scholars Program, has supported Maryville College’s mission by making a transformational education possible for numerous students who demonstrate a high financial need and a desire to make a difference in the world,” Gibson stated. “This grant will ensure meaningful classroom and volunteer experiences for future students and also help us engage the whole campus in service that will empower our communities to become healthy, just and caring places to live and work.

“I am grateful to the Bonner Foundation administrators and trustees for their support of Maryville College over the past 15 years and for their foresight in securing the Bonner Scholars Program’s future through these endowments,” the president continued. “I am also grateful to the College’s faculty and staff members and current and former Bonner Scholars who have dedicated their time, energy, enthusiasm and creativity to making the program here such a huge success. Without their hard work, I feel certain that the Bonner Foundation would not be extending this very generous opportunity to Maryville College.”

For more information on the Bonner match, contact Jason McNeal, vice president for development, at 865.981.8197 or jason.mcneal@maryvillecollege.edu.