"Transformational Gift" to BG livestream today

[BillyLP]

In case you haven't seen it through their marketing, apparently there is a transformational gift being announced today by Rodney Rogers. It is being livestreamed at 11:30am ET on BG's Facebook and YouTube. I don't remember there being a build up to a gift announcement before, so this could be a big one that could have a university-wide impact.

[bgbill]

Al and Carol Schmidthorst's names go on the College of Business.
$15,000,000.
Wonderful.

(I thought I heard 50, but checked bgsu.edu)

[BillyLP]

The Schmidthorst family has named the Business college with an endowed gift of $15 million. A very generous donation, though bit of a bargain to name an entire college, IMHO. Good long term play by BG to invest heavily in business. Colleges that have done this typically reap the rewards financially through exposure and philanthropy down the road.

[BillyLP]

Al and Carol Schmidthorst's names go on the College of Business.
$50,000,000.
Wonderful.

I thought he said $50 million, too, but I just double checked the press release and it's 15.

[footballguy51]

The Schmidthorst family has named the Business college with an endowed gift of $15 million. A very generous donation, though bit of a bargain to name an entire college, IMHO. Good long term play by BG to invest heavily in business. Colleges that have done this typically reap the rewards financially through exposure and philanthropy down the road.

I thought $15 million for a College was cheap, but perhaps this was a way of also acknowledging their continued support?

[BillyLP]

The Schmidthorst family has named the Business college with an endowed gift of $15 million. A very generous donation, though bit of a bargain to name an entire college, IMHO. Good long term play by BG to invest heavily in business. Colleges that have done this typically reap the rewards financially through exposure and philanthropy down the road.

I thought $15 million for a College was cheap, but perhaps this was a way of also acknowledging their continued support?

Very possible, and an endowment of that size will churn out $600k-750k a year depending on how aggressive investments are, so it's not chump change. I just know that the school I got my MBA from named their school after a $40 million donation. It's a higher ranking school than BG, but it was also like 10 years ago and gift expectations have gotten larger.

[footballguy51]

The Schmidthorst family has named the Business college with an endowed gift of $15 million. A very generous donation, though bit of a bargain to name an entire college, IMHO. Good long term play by BG to invest heavily in business. Colleges that have done this typically reap the rewards financially through exposure and philanthropy down the road.

I thought $15 million for a College was cheap, but perhaps this was a way of also acknowledging their continued support?

Very possible, and an endowment of that size will churn out $600k-750k a year depending on how aggressive investments are, so it's not chump change. I just know that the school I got my MBA from named their school after a $40 million donation. It's a higher ranking school than BG, but it was also like 10 years ago and gift expectations have gotten larger.

One important thing to note: $15 million is the largest academic gift received at BGSU. The largest gift received overall was $20 million from Bill Frack to men's basketball. BGSU doesn't receive tons of donations, so $15 million dollars is substantial for us. It's worth noting that our capital campaign goal was $200 million by the end of this calendar year; we were at $191 million prior to this donation, so we have eclipsed our goal with time to spare. Obviously they are going to keep trying for more, but this is exciting to actually hit our goal.

$600k is nothing to sneeze at. You figure that's a handful of employees and a few scholarships that are now completely endowed. That's also money from the general budget that BGSU can either leave with the Schmidhorst College of Business (better get used to that one) or move to other areas of need (College of Music, help reduce student general fees for athletics, etc.).

[BillyLP]

The Schmidthorst family has named the Business college with an endowed gift of $15 million. A very generous donation, though bit of a bargain to name an entire college, IMHO. Good long term play by BG to invest heavily in business. Colleges that have done this typically reap the rewards financially through exposure and philanthropy down the road.

I thought $15 million for a College was cheap, but perhaps this was a way of also acknowledging their continued support?

Very possible, and an endowment of that size will churn out $600k-750k a year depending on how aggressive investments are, so it's not chump change. I just know that the school I got my MBA from named their school after a $40 million donation. It's a higher ranking school than BG, but it was also like 10 years ago and gift expectations have gotten larger.

One important thing to note: $15 million is the largest academic gift received at BGSU. The largest gift received overall was $20 million from Bill Frack to men's basketball. BGSU doesn't receive tons of donations, so $15 million dollars is substantial for us. It's worth noting that our capital campaign goal was $200 million by the end of this calendar year; we were at $191 million prior to this donation, so we have eclipsed our goal with time to spare. Obviously they are going to keep trying for more, but this is exciting to actually hit our goal.

$600k is nothing to sneeze at. You figure that's a handful of employees and a few scholarships that are now completely endowed. That's also money from the general budget that BGSU can either leave with the Schmidhorst College of Business (better get used to that one) or move to other areas of need (College of Music, help reduce student general fees for athletics, etc.).

Great points. I'm certainly not trying to take anything away from the generosity of the Schmidthorsts! This is a gift that will absolutely change BG for the better.

[Bgsu2016]

Was actual on campus last week and am very impressed at how nice it looks! BG deserves a lot of credit IMO, it's a got a great business school that can launch you into great positions ASAP. I'm tired of the whole "have to get into a Big 10 school" mentality of the Midwest, BG holds their own