An anonymous donor pledged match up to a million dollars of donations to John Brown University each year for the next five years. The University is calling the grant the “10 Million Dollar Endowment Match.”
Jim Krall, vice president of university advancement, said this is a challenge grant, which will match other people’s gifts to the endowment.
The school uses the money in its endowment to grow the school and to invest in making academic programs better for the students.
“We are hoping that it will grow the endowment fund,” Krall said. “We are also hoping to get more people involved and invested in the school.”
“The endowments that we receive are what help to keep JBU affordable for our students,” Krall said. “They provide the scholarships that students need and fund other opportunities for the students.”
The terms of the grant require that at least half of the funds matched will go towards scholarships. University President Chip Pollard said the other 50 percent could potentially go towards creating faculty chairs or other similar programs.
Krall said there are currently over $70 million in endowments, which go toward offsetting the cost of attending the University.
“In order to get the word out [about the challenge], we are going to be talking to alumni and other people who have supported us previously,” Krall said. “Our team makes visits and gives talks about the school and how people can get involved. We just want to challenge people to give to the challenge grant.”
Junior Faith Lemons said she appreciated the chance for more scholarships.
“I don’t know if I could come back to JBU each year without the offsets of tuition that they have,” Lemons said. “With the hard economic times, it is beautiful that JBU can give back to its students.”
Krall added that he is “very thankful to the anonymous donor, who has made the match possible.”