Oregon State University Foundation

The Oregon State University Foundation is a private non-profit corporation dedicated to garnering the resources that enable Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon, to achieve excellence in education, research and outreach.[1] The OSU Foundation is governed by a volunteer Board of Trustees.[2]

In 1947 Robert M. Kerr, Edwin B. Aldrich and E. C. Sammons established the Oregon State College Foundation with the aid of OSC President A. L. Strand.[3] They saw the Foundation as a means of creating opportunities that the college could not fulfill with state funds alone. That year they collected the first donation to the OSC Foundation. It was for five dollars.

The university’s endowment began with $20,000 in 1961. It took 16 years to reach its first $1 million in total receipts, but only four more years to double that amount. Today the OSU Foundation has helped build the university’s composite endowment to more than $350 million, with earnings distributed annually.[4]

Together with OSU and OSU Alumni Association leaders, the OSU Foundation publicly launched the university’s first comprehensive fundraising campaign, The Campaign for OSU, on October 26, 2007, with a goal of $625 million.[5] This goal was passed in October 2010 nearly a year ahead of schedule, allowing the goal to be raised to $850 million.[6] The campaign will run through 2013 and will help propel OSU to a new level of distinction and global leadership, particularly in three core areas: sustainable earth ecosystems, health and wellness, and economic growth and social progress.

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