Donor Stories

Tim Kruse (’75), a native of Kansas City, Kansas now living in Texas says that Donnelly really broadened his exposure to world issues and helped him to feel a part of a world community. “I believe that the values Donnelly gave me 30 years ago are still alive and well, and that is what motivated me to include Donnelly in my estate plan,” he said.

“Donnelly taught me many profound life lessons, far beyond the quality education that it provides its students. It began my life-long process of broadening my world view. I believe the goal of education is not only to acquire knowledge and skills, but also to join others unlike oneself to work toward betterment of the world. Donnelly makes a significant contribution toward creating that ‘one world.”

Father Tom Bettencourt , a young priest in San Jose California, read a December, 1987 article about Donnelly in The National Catholic Reporter. He called Dr. John Murry, president of the college at the time, and said he represented someone who was terminally ill who wanted to be sure that his share of the family estate be used to help poor people.”

Father Tom came to Kansas City and spent two days. As he was leaving, he confided that he was the anonymous donor and that he intended to remember Donnelly in his will.

Father Tom died February 25, 1990. Shortly thereafter the college received notice that Father Tom had left 5% of his estate to Donnelly.

The Father Tom Bettencourt Endowed Scholarship Fund continues to assist Donnelly students with financial needs.

From an anonymous donor:

“I did not attend Donnelly College. In fact, up until six years ago I had never even heard of Donnelly. Once I discovered Donnelly and the unique mission it has had for the past sixty years I was hooked. In my opinion, there is no better way to break the cycle of poverty and improve the over-all status of a community than through education. The difficulty is that the very people best served by and most in need of higher education are those least likely to afford it.

I am not wealthy. I wish that I had the ability to write large checks to help Donnelly with its mission but, unfortunately, I’m not in a position to do so. So how can I help? I became a member of the Legacy Society after my wife and I looked at the value of my life insurance policy and we both decided that my family would be fine with less than 100% of the value of that policy if something were to happen to me. Changing the beneficiary form took less than five minutes and now Donnelly College is a co-beneficiary along with my wife. It’s not a huge percentage, but my family won’t miss it and we are happy knowing that it will help Donnelly continue its mission after I’m gone.”

- Anonymous