NSU reports record-breaking giving totals

Northeastern State University concluded 2014 with more than sufficient evidence that the university is moving in the right direction. New doors were opened for both the Occupational Therapy and Optometry programs. The Light the Way Emergency Fund, which has already been used to assist several students in need, was announced at the 125thanniversary of Seminary Hall. Numerous endowed scholarships were established, and NSU was able to create several new lasting partnerships that will allow for further student successes.

Direct public support on the rise.As of Dec. 31, 2014, the NSU Foundation saw more than a doubling of direct public support, which includes donations of all types, including in-kind goods.Total Foundation assets, which include endowment, cash, real estate, life insurance cash values, prepaid insurance, etc., totaled $23,185,426. This number is up $3.5M (17.8 percent) from 2013.Endowment numbers came in at $18,524,394, up $745K, or 17.4 percent from 2013.

Direct support saw a tremendous leap, totaling $3,655,841, up 112.8 percent from 2013. Direct support for NSU Athletics also rose by 52.8 percent settling at $333,102 for 2014.

"This record-breaking year of donations is the culmination of efforts made by a number of current and past faculty and staff. For example, our current president, Dr. Steve Turner, spearheaded the generous grant from the City of Muskogee Foundation for the new Occupational Therapy program, said Peggy Glenn, Director of Development and Executive Director of the NSU Foundation. Dr. Turner also established the Light the Way Emergency Fund, which has already assisted a student whose apartment building burned down, as well as a student whose utilities were being cut off after her bank account was hacked, among others.

Honored with estate gifts. Numerous generous donations, including several new endowed scholarships, were also established through estate gifts with student success in mind.

Mary Kathryn Stewart, who received her Bachelor of Science in Education in 1940 from NSU (then known as Northeastern State College), was born in Yahola, Okla. After graduation, Stewart worked as a cashier at NSU until 1951 when she left to pursue a license clerk position at the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation in Oklahoma City. At this position, Stewart brought in $250 per month.

After 34 years with the Dept. of Wildlife Conservation, and having risen to become supervisor of the licensing division, Stewart retired. Although Stewart never married, she lived with her sister, Eva, to save money. Both women lived very frugal lifestyles with steady savings, which eventually led to more sizable investments, mainly in the form of bonds. Eventually, Stewart moved to Claremore, where she later passed away in March 2013.

Shortly after Stewarts death, NSU was notified that a large portion of her estate would be donated to the NSU Foundation. Last spring, NSU received more than $750,000.

This generous donation has since been designated by the Foundations board of trustees toward the new Light the Way Emergency Fund for students and the Presidents Leadership Class scholarship, the most prestigious leadership scholarship available at NSU.

The second estate gift that NSU received came from Elizabeth Hodges Timmons, a Welling, Okla. native, who attended NSU in the early 1930s. It was here that she met her husband, Allen Timmons, a 1934 NSU graduated who became a Navy recruiter and later, the Human Resources Director at the Philadelphia Mint.

In 1973, following her husbands passing, Timmons returned to Tahlequah and spent the next 40 years making all types of handmade crafts and traveling with groups nationally and occasionally internationally.

Timmons contacted the NSU Foundation in 2007 about establishing a scholarship as part of her estate plan, where she was able to help craft the scholarship guidelines. Through this process, she became a member the NSU Foundations Guardian Society, a group for those who have made arrangements for estate gifts to the university.

Timmons passed away in August of this year. The NSU Foundation was recently presented with a check for $325,000, by a Timmons Family Foundation Trustee, Shirley Grooms, Timmons niece. Through the Allen and Elizabeth Timmons Endowed Scholarship, full-time education majors will benefit for generations to come.

Jack C. Castleberry, a 1953 graduate of NSU, created the third estate gift in 1996.Proceeds of more than $500,000 from his individual retirement accounts (IRAs) are funding an endowment for the Castleberry Family Scholarship, established in memory of his parents, Kermit L. and Mary Alma Castleberry, and their three children, Jack C. Castleberry (the donor), Rosemary Castleberry Mills, and Connie Castleberry Rains.

The scholarship will benefit one or more NSU students who are majoring in a field of study in the College of Business or College of Education, who graduated from an Oklahoma high school, and who have a 3.0 grade point average.Jack was an accountant and member of the board of trustees of the NSU Foundation until 2002, so he understood well the impact his estate gift would have on NSU students for many generations.

Partnerships open new doors for students.The George Kaiser Family Foundation, a major supporter of education in Oklahoma, formed a partnership with NSU during 2014 that will enrich educator training. The partnership will allow early childhood education majors participating in the College of Education's EPIC program (a one-year, co-teacher internship) to gain experience in Tulsa Educare facilities while earning a scholarship.An intensive internship program, EPIC can place financial struggles on students trying to find time to balance school and work. When a faculty member expressed this concern to a friend, word of mouth made its way to the George Kaiser Family Foundation, which was more than happy to help.

These stories demonstrate that everyone connected with NSU, past or present, can build community and financial support by sharing their passion for NSUas well as students' triumphs and struggleswith others," said Glenn.