Skeeter Bird: a letter to the Foundation

As I look back over this last year, I am extremely grateful for the number of generous and talented people that have made another year a huge success. I would just like to mention a few of those highlights.

In fund raising, we just fi nished the second best year in the history of the Foundation. The best year was 1998 when the city of Enid donated $2.5 million to establish eight endowed chairs on the new campus. Ironically, this year was extremely successful once again in a large part because of the endowed chair program.

The endowed chair program is a state matching program that allows state universities to raise funds that are matched by the state legislature on a one for one basis. It translates into a huge boost for our faculty development. At the beginning of this fi scal year, we held the funds for 17 endowed accounts in this state matching program. By the end of the year, we had increased this to 23 accounts. With this accomplishment, we became the regional university in Oklahoma with the greatest number of endowed chairs. We had 4 generous donors give over $1.5 million to this program just this year. Once matched by the state, the University will have an additional $3 million added to the endowment. This growth in endowment funds will both strengthen existing programs as well as create a couple of new programs that the University had previously been unable to offer.

Our scholarship program continues to grow at a healthy pace as well. As most of you know, this program is the spearhead of the Foundation’s efforts to facilitate our students’ success. This last year, Northwestern was selected by the US News and World Report as one of the top ten schools in the nation for lowest debt load for our graduates. We want to continue this mark of excellence and our donors are making this possible. We had an increase of 28% in our Millennium Club members once again this year, and we again are extremely grateful for everyone’s generosity which translates into scholarship growth.

Finally, one of the most visible cues of our progress has been the physical changes in our campus. We now have two wonderful statues on our Alva and Enid campuses as well as two new signs at the north entrance and northwest corner of the Alva campus. These were possible because of several extremely generous donors who believe, as I do, that Northwestern is an excellent investment.

Thank you again for your support and gifts. As we look forward, we see many more opportunities for positive change with your help. Thank you for allowing me to serve as your CEO during a very exciting time for our Foundation and University.

Ride Rangers Ride!!!!!!!!!!

Allen E. (Skeeter) Bird Class of 1985 Chief Executive Offi cer