NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
MCPHERSON, Kan. — McPherson College President Michael Schneider is still fundraising to make the most out of the anonymous $500 million gift announced by the school in November.
"For every dollar you can raise before June 30, 2023, I will double match it, up to $500 million," Schneider was told by the donor. "At this point, we have raised over $150 million that they will be double matching. The first thing to understand is this is an estate commitment, so this will happen over time. The dollars won't be just showing up overnight. This happens over time. It's for endowment, meaning these things are going to be permanently endowed funds for McPherson College. When the funds do arrive, we'll just be spending a small portion of those."
The idea is to get the college out of the year to year fundraising and pure enrollment seeking cycle and allow them to seek sustainable long-term growth as a campus and as a community.
"Small means something different to students," Schneider said. "When you and I were in school, a school of 400, 500, 600 students, that was okay. Small is different now. Small is 2500 students. 2500 students gets us to the point where we don't worry about every program that happens to struggle this year. We don't worry obsessively over what our athletic squads are doing."
The goal is still to have the bulk of the college experience for McPherson College students be on campus.
"We're going to build something that people want to come and be part of a community," Schneider said. "I believe that in 20 years, our grandkids will probably be more hybrid and online and virtual will have changed and transformed our institution, but our grandkids are still going to want to go study somewhere and be a part of a community. All 2500 are going to be a part of our community in one way or another.
The matching funds will support the McPherson College Community by Design 2.0 strategic plan. Transformative initiatives within the plan include: the Student Debt Project; East McPherson, campus master plan; a new Kansas Center for Rural & Community Health; and a new National Center for the Future of Engineering, Design & Mobility.
If you have questions, you can start by emailing Schneider at [email protected] and scheduling a visit to campus.
CLICK HERE to download the Hutch Post mobile app.
CLICK HERE to sign up for the daily Hutch Post email news update.