Major gifts boost campaign total

In November 2003 the UW-Eau Claire Foundation announced two major gifts to the Fulfilling the Promise of Excellence campaign: a $1 million planned gift from an anonymous alumni couple and $615,000 from the Wayne Canar Trust .

Anonymous $1 million gift
An anonymous alumni couple has named the UW-Eau Claire Foundation as the sole beneficiary of their $1 million estate, designating that the gift be used to create an endowed scholarship fund for high-achieving UW-Eau Claire education students.

“We are grateful to these donors, both UW-Eau Claire education graduates, for their generosity,” said Carole Halberg, UW-Eau Claire Foundation president. “We also are honored that through this university they will leave their legacy by encouraging high-achieving students to become tomorrow’s teachers.”

Both donors have been teachers, Halberg said. They have seen firsthand the important influence that teachers have in students’ lives, and they are troubled that relatively low teaching salaries cause many of today’s top university students to pursue other professions, she said.

“This generous gift is an investment that will yield many significant returns by assisting highly qualified students to become outstanding teachers in the future,” said Katherine Rhoades, associate dean of the School of Education. “I can think of no better way of honoring and perpetuating these donors’ lifelong contributions to the field of education.”

Halberg noted that one donor was the first in her family to earn a college degree and both worked to support themselves through school, so the criteria for scholarship recipients will include status as a first-generation college student and evidence of employment in addition to a minimum 3.0 grade-point average.

“Their gift, when realized, will support students whose lives are much like the lives of the donors when they attended UW-Eau Claire and who, like the donors, find teaching to be a calling,” Halberg said.

Canar Trust gift
The Wayne Canar Trust was established more than 30 years ago by Wayne Canar, former Mondovi businessman and entrepreneur who died in 1973. UW-Eau Claire was the final beneficiary of the charitable remainder trust. The first beneficiary of the trust, Canar’s cousin Catherine Fitzgerald, died in July.

“We are honored that Wayne Canar chose UW-Eau Claire as the place to carry on his legacy,” said Carole Halberg, UW-Eau Claire Foundation president.

Mondovi resident John Herpst, manager and trustee of the Wayne Canar Trust since 1979, said Canar was the former president of Mondovi State Bank and a member of the Mondovi school board when the community’s high school was built in 1939.

Canar’s membership on the school board and the provision in his will for UW-Eau Claire both were indications that “he was interested in giving students a chance to improve themselves through education,” Herpst said.

The gift will become a part of the UW-Eau Claire Foundation’s Excellence Fund endowment, Halberg said. Annual earnings from the endowment support student scholarships, faculty/student research, the Honors Program, faculty development and the university’s other areas of greatest need.

“This gift will provide much-needed support for the university’s people and programs — support that is increasingly critical given the current state fiscal situation and the reductions in state funding for higher education,” Halberg said.