By Brooklyn Dance
Future Trevecca students will have more opportunity for scholarships thanks to the largest donation in the university’s history.
Trevecca President Dan Boone on Nov. 2 announced that a foundation created by longtime donors made a gift equal to $20 million, given once a year in roughly $1 million payments. The first payment begins in 2019.
To Boone’s knowledge, it’s the biggest donation pledged to any of the Nazarene colleges.
“This is a more significant moment in Trevecca’s history than I think a lot of people realize. We start every year at zero for fundraising for scholarships. Now, we start at a million and move up from there,” Boone said.
Because the donation is coming from a foundation, there are specific guidelines that must be followed.
Though the numbers are only estimates at this point, Boone said the $1 million
amount per year is almost certain.
“[The donors] said, ‘If we were distributing today, Trevecca would receive a little over $1 million per year,” Boone said.
Boone noted that the estimates are not an attempt to be vague. The estimates change daily based on how the stock market is doing. The first payment, which is scheduled for January 2019, will not be determined until the foundation’s books are calculated on Dec. 31, 2018.
Though the standards of how the money will be distributed are still being written, Boone said the donors indicated their first priority is the upkeep of Waggoner Library.
“[That upkeep] is not more than $100,000 in any given year, so you’re only talking about a tenth of that going in that direction, at most,” Boone said.
The next priority is scholarships for students. Rather than adding to current financial packages, which Boone said are already discounted as high as they can be, the scholarship money will go towards allowing more students to come to Trevecca who couldn’t before because of financial reasons.
“We don’t see it as adding more per students with aid, we see it enabling us to say yes to another 25 to 50 students every year. Within a four-year period of time, you’re looking at helping 100 to 200 students,” Boone said.
To Boone, the donation is one of the highest honors.
“These donors have great confidence in the mission of Trevecca and the great students we are trying to form and graduate. If you’re old and you think about what your life’s work will mean beyond your life, they’ve basically determined they want their legacy to be giving the world the kind of graduates that Trevecca’s giving to the world. For me as a president, that’s one of the highest honors that anyone could give,” Boone said. “That they look at our mission and our students, and they say, ‘We believe in what you’re doing so deeply that we want this to be our legacy too.’’’
