For the second time in three years, Catawba College received $200 million from an anonymous … (+)
Catawba College, a private liberal arts college in Salisbury, North Carolina, has received a $200 million donation from an anonymous donor, the second such donation the institution has received in the past three years.
Two-thirds of the donation will provide unrestricted funding for the college, with the remaining third going to programs promoting environmental education and sustainability, which have always been a priority of the institution. Catawba achieved carbon neutrality in 2023, well ahead of its 2030 goal.
“Catawba College is committed to providing its students with a liberal arts education that gives them the opportunity to explore the world and learn to care for it,” said David P. Nelson, president of Catawba College, in a press release. “This significant donation helps strengthen that commitment for generations to come and allows us to take bold steps now toward a cleaner future.”
Combined with the $200 million anonymous gift in 2021 and another $42 million anonymous gift in 2022, Catawba’s endowment has grown from about $100 million to over $580 million, nearly $500,000 per student.
According to the college’s press release, several projects are currently underway that reflect its commitment to sustainability, community and student experience. These include:
- The Smokestack, a reclamation of the college’s old coal-fired power plant renovated to Living Building Challenge standards, will create 10,000 square feet of additional space for students.
- A new 150-bed dormitory is expected to be completed in about two years, and two more dormitories are currently being renovated. All three projects emphasize sustainable building practices.
According to the Salisbury PostPresident Nelson said the colleges want students to participate in community service and undergraduate research projects, study abroad and complete internships. “We invest in those opportunities for our students so that they have a well-rounded classroom experience, but they also have these other opportunities outside of the classroom that we all know make a huge difference not only in the knowledge that students gain, but in how they are shaped as people, and we place a huge value on that,” Nelson added.
Of the $200 million gift in 2021, the largest to date in Catawba’s history, one-third of the gift was earmarked for the university’s environmental education programs, with the other two-thirds being used for student scholarships, faculty development, student success initiatives and various renovations.
The anonymous nature of these gifts has naturally led to speculation about the identity of the donor. For example: Companies North Carolina reported that Salisbury is home to Fred Stanback, a billionaire whose family founded the Stanback headache powder business. “He was Warren Buffett’s roommate at Columbia Business School, best man at the financier’s wedding and one of the first investors in Buffett’s phenomenally successful Berkshire Hathaway corporation,” the magazine said. Stanback donated to various environmental organizations and other philanthropic causes.
