College Answers Kresge Challenge

The construction of the $26 million John S. Toll Science Center was the most ambitious capital project in College history. As the opening date loomed on the horizon, College development officers secured a $750,000 grant from the Kresge Foundation, contingent on the College's ability to raise an additional $2.8 million in just eight months.

The College community rose to the challenge. Those who gave, gave again. Alumni volunteers and development staffers identified new donors for the project. Alumni who graduated in the sciences, as well as those from other disciplines, responded. The friends and family of the late Joseph H. McLain answered the challenge as well, reaching their $1 million goal to name the atrium for the former Washington College student, chemistry professor and president.

In the final tally, the $750,000 challenge grant from the Kresge Foundation produced more than 650 new gifts from alumni, parents and friends, totaling $437,529. Numerous corporations and foundations, including the Booth Ferris Foundation, the Crystal Trust, the Davenport Family Foundation, the Lime Kiln Valley Foundation, the John Ben Snow Memorial Trust and Whiting-Turner Contracting Corporation, also responded to the challenge with $1.1 million in new gifts. The College's Board of Visitors and Governors, many of whom had already made leadership gifts, contributed an additional $1.4 million to the project.

With ten days remaining in the calendar year, the College had just $30,000 more to raise in order to meet the Kresge challenge.

"When [Board member] Richard Bernstein learned how close we were to the finish line," recalls President Baird Tipson, "he sent us a congratulatory note and a check for $30,000. I was delightfully surprised and extremely grateful. Dick's spontaneous generosity offers a wonderful example of the commitment our alumni, friends, parents and, above all, Board members have for this institution."