Cash Gifts

The University of North Dakota remembers my past attendance there by sending alumni news. They certainly don’t do this because of any of my achievements, but in a real sense to encourage my estate to remember them with a cash gift upon my demise. If I give it would be a very small gift. Alumni directors like the rich alumni who can fork over big amounts. But still, I enjoy reading news of the university and hope to keep informed for many more years.

One of their recent communications appeared to awaken a memory of one man’s gift. My attendance in the early 1960s saw a million dollar gift come to UND for the purpose of building a library. Given by an international investor named Chester Fritz, it has become a beautiful building. Chester Fritz and I had only one thing in common: we did not graduate from this university. But a million dollars, at the time I thought it astronomical. Of course, today we think in terms of billions, even trillions.

Orphaned, he went to live with his aunt at Lidgerwood where it was said he became a voracious reader. The aunt apparently had some connection to the president at UND and through her guiding, he attended there for about two years.

We visited the library a couple of years ago. They have a large collection of comprehensive work called the Bygdebok which outlines Norwegian ancestry. Mary was deep into research of some topics and wanted to look at them. At that time we saw first hand how well-appointed the library had become.

Fritz did not end his philanthropy work with the library. The Chester Fritz Auditorium on the UND campus, commonly known as “The Fritz,” received another million dollar gift from him in 1965. It’s capacity of 2,384 people is the place where many events are held, including concerts, recitals, commencement ceremonies, lectures, and conferences. 

We have attended two events at “The Fritz,” the first a Garrison Keillor performance. We have seen Keillor three times, once here and twice in Bismarck. We enjoy his brand of person to person communication very much. He excelled in this auditorium with its comfortable seating and first rate sound system.

The second time we attended we heard the author Peter Matthiessen read and discuss his work. Family members who sat with me didn’t have knowledge of his work and I had only a passing acquaintance with it. From that time I have gone on to read his his great work. When I started writing this piece I opened my copy of The Snow Leopard and began reading from it again.

The book describes a journey with a biologist into the high country of Nepal to study Himalayan blue sheep, and if lucky, glimpse a rare snow leopard. While traveling, Matthiessen also takes the reader deep into his inner thoughts. Like so much good literature it portrays not so much the reaching of their goal as it is the value gained from taking the journey. I wished I would have known that before attending his reading at “The Fritz.”

The University of North Dakota became the beneficiary of another significant gift to build “The Ralph.” Ralph Engelstad attended UND, played hockey, and went on to a successful business career. He gave $104 million for the building of a hockey arena. It wasn’t all roses, though. This was at the time when school nicknames came under examination, especially those using Native American connotation. The powers that be deemed “The Sioux” nickname had to go. Englestad took exception to that decision and threatened to withdraw his funding if that went through.

The power of the NCAA came into play by stating offensive nicknames would not be permitted. Engelstad’s competitive spirit would not completely relent and he made sure the Fighting Sioux logo appeared in many places including a large granite logo in the main concourse. I haven’t been in the building yet and should take a day trip up there to visit both “The Ralph” and “The Fritz.”

A recent announcement appeared that fits well with the topic of giving and is worthy to repeat. “In an extraordinary act of generosity, Minnesota Vikings Head Coach Kevin O’Connell has donated his entire $1.8 million performance bonus and a recent endorsement contract to charities focused on homelessness and community support.” 

Some other big money people are passing their wealth around. Celebrated for her extraordinary generosity in the wake of her divorce from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, is McKenzie Scott. After their 2019 divorce, Ms. Scott signed the Giving Pledge and as such has given away the majority of her wealth to charitable causes.

Bill Gates and Warren Buffett launched something they called the Giving Pledge in 2010 which was a campaign to convince the world’s wealthiest to give away at least half their fortunes before their deaths. In addition to themselves others joined in. A man named Charles Feeney who made his fortune by launching Duty Free Shoppers and to date has given $8 billion of it to charities and plans to die broke. Warren Buffett has given away almost $57 billion and Bill Gates and his ex-wife have chipped in $43 billion.

The list is quite long and won’t be added to here. I think for the most part they don’t brag much about what they’ve done. Maybe some follow the teaching of the Bible’s Matthew 6:1 that tells us when we do good things, we shouldn’t do them in order to be praised.