McPherson College in McPherson, Kansas, has announced the creation of a $1.5 billion endowment as a result of an anonymous $500 million gift. 

After the college met the donor’s $500 million double-match challenge announced last fall, the donor committed an additional $500 million estate gift to boost the total to more than $1.5 billion, giving the college the largest endowment of any small liberal arts college in the United States. The donor agreement provides the flexibility for the anonymous donor to pay out the gift over time or to have it paid in full upon the donor’s death.

The endowment will be named after two late alumni and professors at McPherson College, John Ward and John Burkholder. Ward graduated from McPherson College in 1950 and had a distinguished career in higher education, first as a professor of agriculture at the college for 12 years and later at the University of Nebraska. Burkholder graduated in 1949 and was a professor of biology at the college for nearly 40 years. 

“Now, the work begins to build a bridge to our future endowment,” said McPherson College president Michael Schneider. “We need to carefully plan how the income from the endowment is deployed to reimagine and construct the campus of the future, build a much-needed rural health pipeline in Kansas, create a center for the future of automotive engineering, and work to make college more affordable for all our students. There has never been a better day to be a part of the McPherson College community!” 

“Naming faculty on this massive endowment highlights the unique faculty-student relationships found at McPherson College including the times John and John were themselves students at the college,” said Marty Ward, a McPherson College trustee and son of John Ward. “Priceless might be a fitting word to describe the influence that faculty, staff, and administration of McPherson College have on the lives of its students.”

(Photo credit: McPherson College)