The impact of philanthropy at NIU may have begun with a shoebox.

Prior to World War Two, President Leslie Holmes kept a small amount of money in his office to help students and faculty with emergency loans. The source of the cash was interest on bequests from graduates over the years, and it had been accumulating since 1900. In 1916, the estate of alumnus Andrew Brown donated the university’s first major gift, and the principal grew to more than $30,000. 

Following the war, Holmes knew that another major gift would cause the box to overflow with earned interest – and indeed it did upon receipt of $5,000 from alumni and friends in the name of the late President Karl Adams. Other universities were establishing foundations to manage private giving, and Holmes became convinced that Northern needed to follow suit. 

On March 31, 1949, he and two other administrators signed articles of incorporation for the Northern Illinois State Teachers College Foundation. 

A little more than a decade later, the Foundation began its evolution from a recipient of gifts to a more strategic partnership with the university. The State had issued bonds to help universities across Illinois build new facilities for a rapidly-growing cohort of college-bound students. Unfortunately, that funding model did not provide money to furnish the buildings, and the university could not borrow cash to do so – but the private Foundation could. By buying the furnishings and leasing them to the university, crisis was averted – and the legislature approved repayment of that loan the following year.

Another major contribution of the early Foundation was the purchase of land surrounding the university. Many parcels along Normal Road, Lincoln Highway, Annie Glidden Road, Lucinda Avenue and the west campus were acquired through the Foundation, taking time-critical advantage of favorable pricing while waiting for state appropriations via a legislature that only met every other year.

While the early Foundation was able to assist the university with many strategic moves, its primary focus, then as now, was helping students pay for school. Early recipients of such financial assistance were required to sign a pledge saying that they did not drink or smoke and were “generally people of good character.” Such requirements were removed in the late 1960s, but the emphasis on student support endures. 

NIU Foundation fundraising activity reached nearly $22 million in FY19, including a multi-million-dollar pledge for scholarships.

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