When it came time to retire in the late 1990s, Robert and Carol Bennett contemplated moving to a city known for its performing arts venues. Instead, the devotees of chamber music and live theater decided to stay in College Park and await the opening of the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center.

They were so excited by the center's promise that they'd begun donating "a little here and there" to performing arts scholarships and other causes. Then five years ago—just after the Clarice Smith Center opened to rave reviews—the couple sat down with a fundraiser there to make a pledge. The associate professor of economics emeritus and his wife, an alumna, wanted to make a financial contribution that would express their appreciation for the arts and simultaneously make their gift-giving a little easier.

That conversation—and many that followed—turned the Bennetts into annual donors. They pledged $15,000 over five years, dictating exactly how each year's $3,000 gift should be spent. Having just made a new commitment to the center, they call their investment in the university "money well spent."

"We were particularly interested in supporting [the Clarice Smith Center] and influencing a new direction for the university," says Carol Bennett '71, who remembers the university as athletically oriented during her time as a student.

"We were thrilled to be able to be a part of the emergence of the arts at Maryland." The Bennetts' pledge is divided among four major causes: $2,250 a year to the center's endowment; $250 to the Theatre Patrons Fund supporting current scholarships; $250 to the Dorothy Madden Dance Scholarship Endowment and $250 to the Artists Scholarship Benefit Series for the School of Music.

While their gift reflects a specific passion, others happen almost by coincidence, through direct solicitation or after years of consideration. No matter the size of a gift, university supporters can choose how, where and even when it should be spent. Those who guide such gifts to individual schools, colleges or programs work tirelessly to make sure donors' wishes are met and that they see the results of their gifts. The goal is not just to raise money for the university but also to build lasting relationships with alumni, faculty, staff and friends whose presence and commitment to Maryland can make a difference in our community.

Personal Links

Al Carey's connection to the university began with athletics. A Long Island native, he was a heavily recruited track star who chose to come to Maryland, despite the fact that the university could only award him a partial scholarship during his freshman year.

Today, Carey '74, is making sure there's more scholarship money to go around, whether the student recipients are athletes or those with extreme financial need. As president and chief executive officer of PepsiCo's Frito-Lay North America division, Carey has shepherded several large corporate gifts to the university. He also gave enough of his own money to fund a four-year scholarship for a track athlete, part of an effort to increase that program's scholarships from two to 12.5 a year.

In 2004, Carey also made a generous personal gift with a big emotional impact. During a University of Maryland College Park Foundation Trustees meeting, Carey and fellow board member Bob Facchina '77 heard the story of a young woman who was considering dropping out just shy of her senior year. Her father had cancer and had been forced to leave work, and the family could no longer afford their daughter's tuition. That night, Carey and Facchina decided to split the remaining cost of her Maryland education, about $12,000, and donate the money to the foundation, which supports an emergency tuition program. The young woman has since graduated and become a teacher.

"It's probably the best $6,000 I've spent in my life," Carey says. "The letters we got from the student's family were really incredible."

Corporate Supporters

Carey continues his gift-giving efforts, spearheading PepsiCo's corporate contributions to the Robert H. Smith School of Business and the College of Education. He got involved with education's project after a former dean convinced him to give to it not once, but twice.

Run through the Maryland Institute for Minority Achievement and Urban Education, the project connected local school officials and university educators and greatly improved college attendance rates and college scholarship awards made to students in Bladensburg, Md., schools.

Though the institute has been up and running since 2001, it doesn't yet have the resources needed to make the larger impact officials envision. Earlier this year, they returned to some initial investors and sought out others who could help expand daily operations. Among others who committed to the new fundraising initiative were Doctors Community Hospital and Gary Michael/NAI The Michael Companies Inc., which each gave $100,000 to hire an executive director.

"I think it is extremely important for an organization such as Doctors Community Hospital to reinvest back into its community...," says Philip B. Down, the hospital's president and a member of the University of Maryland College Park Foundation.  "As this program continues to mature, I want to ensure that it is self-sustaining and continues to benefit our youth and contribute to an improved quality of life in Prince George's County."

The idea is to make permanent the institute's outreach efforts, which include school-specific teacher training initiatives, mentoring and after-school and other support programs. Carey is also working on providing an endowed chair through the PepsiCo Foundation, which would enable the institute to research, implement and analyze the success of support programs in Prince George's schools.

"This is a unique approach for a college to take," says Andrew Sheehy, executive director for development in the College of Education. "We have community members who are becoming part of a collaborative to make students better prepared for work, better prepared for life, just better prepared to succeed."

Lasting Legacies

As public school teachers, Louis and Idell Vaughn knew the value of a good education. Putting their middle son through college and graduate school taught them just how much it could cost. Kenneth Vaughn '77 earned a bachelor's degree at Maryland, then went on to earn a Juris Doctorate at the University of Pennsylvania, a master's at Stanford and a dual master's/doctorate degree at Harvard.

"He was a perpetual student," says Vaughn's brother, Maryland Del. Michael Vaughn, who went to college on an athletic scholarship after watching his two brothers rack up tuition bills. "I used to tell him he had more degrees than a thermometer." Kenneth worked as an administrative law judge in New York and later as an ethics attorney for New York Power. He accomplished it all by the time he was 46, when the nonsmoker succumbed to lung cancer.

Looking for a way to honor their son, the Vaughns used money from several real estate investments to establish the Kenneth G. Vaughn Memorial Scholarship for Excellence in Government and Politics. They simply called the university and asked how to set it up the way they wanted. Now, their $100,000 gift provides about $5,000 in scholarship money each year for a student with a "B" or better average. Although Kenneth was an alumnus of four universities, the family decided the gift would have the most impact at the University of Maryland, located in the same county where Kenneth grew up and the rest of the Vaughns still live.

"Kenneth believed in trying to help others in their pursuit of education," Del. Vaughn says. "We thought maybe that would be an inspiration to someone else." Ellie Fields '49 hopes her gift does the same. As a lover of football and her university, she hasn't missed much action at Byrd Stadium over the last few decades.

Fields and about 25 friends comprised the self-proclaimed "Moldy Group," a close-knit circle of older Maryland alums that once overtook three rows during Saturday home games. Although the group has dwindled to a handful of members, Fields is still an ardent fan and supporter of athletics. Whether traveling to an Atlantic Coast Conference game, playing golf at the university course or serving on a committee overseeing renovations there, Fields' loyalty to the red and white is always evident.

In 2001, her strong connection to Maryland athletics moved her to give a $50,000 annuity that will fund the Eleanor H. Fields '49 Scholarship Fund in the Department of Intercollegiate Athletics upon her death.

The gifts will be a legacy of sorts for Fields, a one-time president of the University of Maryland Alumni Association-International and lifetime Terrapin Club member. But more importantly to her, it will reflect her appreciation for the university, its student athletes and the joy both brought her over the years.

"I'm very fond of the University of Maryland," says Fields, who worked in radio and television production and still lives in University Park. "You're an undergraduate for maybe four or five years...but you're an alumnus for the rest of your life."