A roundup of notable gifts compiled by the Chronicle:
Gordon College
Dale and Sarah Ann Fowler pledged $26.5 million, and the college will receive the money upon the couple’s deaths. The donation is a significant one given the couple’s previous giving history at the college. In 2007, the Fowlers pledged $60 million, and the college named its campus for the couple.
The Fowlers later rescinded the commitment after becoming uneasy about the direction the college was taking under its then president, Michael Lindsay, who was hired after the Fowlers made their initial $60 million pledge. Now the Fowlers say they are impressed with Michael Hammond, the college’s current president.
“Even while away from this campus, my wife and I have watched closely to see how Gordon was navigating this challenging climate for higher education,” Dale Fowler said in a news release about the latest pledge. “We are very impressed with this new president and his team and their willingness to innovate in not only their academic program and the campus experience but in how they are telling the great story of Gordon.”
Dale Fowler founded Fowler Properties, a real-estate development company in Anaheim and Ontario, Calif. The couple got to know the college in the early 2000s through grandchildren who attended Gordon, and they previously gave about $1 million to support the college’s admissions, athletic programs, and improvements to the campus. They recently donated a fleet of electric transport vehicles to improve visitors’ campus-tour experience.
University of South Florida
James (Jay) Nault gave $10 million to a range of education and other programs at the newly named Nault Center for Entrepreneurship, which will be housed in the Muma College of Business. Nault founded and leads Anclote Holding Company, a real-estate holding company in Jacksonville, Fla., and Storage Zone Self Storage and Business Centers. He earned a bachelor’s degree and an M.B.A. from the university in 1983 and 1984, respectively.
Eye to Eye
MacKenzie Scott gave $5 million to this nonprofit, which works to improve the educational experiences of neurodiverse youths. The gift is unrestricted, but officials said in a news release that they plan to use the money to expand existing programs and create a scholarship program.
Scott is a novelist who helped create Amazon with former husband Jeff Bezos. With a net worth estimated at about $34 billion, Scott is one of the wealthiest women in the world and has given roughly $14 billion to more than 1,600 charities since 2020. She appeared on the Chronicle’s annual Philanthropy 50 list of the biggest donors in 2020.
Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota
Betty Kabara pledged $4 million to support the Kabara Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies, which she and her late husband, Jon Kabara, helped to establish in 2006. Kabara is president and CEO of Med-Chem Labs, a nutritional-supplement manufacturer in Goodyear, Ariz., that was founded by Jon Kabara in 1966. Jon Kabara graduated from the university in 1948. He died in 2011. The Kabaras gave the university $1.5 million in 2016 to back science and business programs.
Palmer College of Chiropractic
William Kiernan gave $3 million to the college’s experiential learning center, which has been renamed the William J. & Mary A. Kiernan Hall, Anatomy & Technique Center. Mary Kieran is the donor’s late wife.
William Kiernan is a retired chiropractor. He earned his chiropractic doctorate from the college in 1951 and went on to open a practice in Lawrence, Mass., where he practiced for 30 years. He retired in 1997. He played a key role in getting Massachusetts to pass a law requiring chiropractors to be licensed in order to practice in the state.
To learn about other big donations, see our database of gifts of $1 million or more, which is updated regularly.
