Rowans and Lenfests Give Williamson $45 Million

The Williamson campus has been bursting with excitement recently enough to last a long time to come. The excitement was created by the announcement during a special convocation in the chapel (click to listen to the audio) on March 25 of two extremely large gifts to Williamson, the largest in School history, which lead to a celebration.

The celebration was caused by the coming together of two great philanthropists from the Philadelphia area, Henry and Lee Rowan and H. FitzGerald “Gerry” and Marguerite Lenfest, who each pledged $20 million to Williamson’s Legacy Campaign.

President Paul A. Reid said, “Williamson is deeply honored and humbled by the extraordinary and selfless generosity of these two legendary entrepreneurs, great community leaders, and outstanding individuals. Williamson is indeed very fortunate to have the support and friendship of these extraordinary men. With their gifts of $20 million each, Mr. Rowan and Mr. Lenfest have ensured the future of Williamson. Their generous gift is testimony to the continued value of Williamson’s time-tested mission in today’s society.”

Reid said the gifts are the most powerful financial tool given to Williamson since its founding and create an expectation that prudent management can assure Williamson will be here 50 years from now. “With these gifts, the future of Williamson has been protected. The mission of the School has not changed, but has been secured for many generations to come.”

“These most generous gifts now give Williamson the opportunity to operate and balance the budget with 70 percent of income provided by the endowment at a realistic and conservative withdrawal rate. Our fund raising needs continue to be a very real and challenging objective. At least 30 percent of the budget is still needed from annual unrestricted gifts. We must maintain the campus, restore buildings, fight inflationary medical costs, keep pace with technology advancements in all our trades, protect the quality of the programs, and recruit the most deserving young men as students.”

Reid added, “These gifts are not just an endorsement of Williamson and its mission. They are recognition, by two American industrialists, of post-secondary technical education, the kind of education that gives young people the skills and character to support America’s efforts to remain at the leading edge of productivity and technology with a competitive global marketplace.”

Henry Rowan is the founder of Rowan Technologies, a world leader in the manufacturing of induction melting systems for the metals industry headquartered in Rancocas, N.J..

Gerry Lenfest, spent four decades building Lenfest Communications, a cable television business, which he sold to Comcast Corp. in 2000. One of America’s wealthiest couples, the Lenfests formed the Lenfest Foundation which supports many charitable causes, though their gift did not come from the Foundation, but as a personal gift.

Recognizing the importance of a strong endowment, Rowan offered a $5 million challenge grant in December 2007 as part of the Legacy Campaign to grow the School’s endowment. To date, more than $2 million has been raised towards the initial Rowan Challenge.

After the establishment of the Rowan Challenge, Williamson approached the Lenfests to help match the challenge. Instead, the Lenfests offered to partner with the Rowans to provide an additional $40 million to the endowment. They decided each couple would provide $20 million.

Why did the two men, neither a Williamson graduate, decide to support the School at such a high level? Rowan said, “Lee and I have been privileged to become acquainted with Williamson over the past several years. We believe very strongly in Williamson’s mission to provide excellent academics while preparing deserving young men with the rigorous training and strong values needed to build men of good moral character.”

Lenfest said, “Marguerite and I are excited to have this opportunity to support Williamson. The funding toward the School’s endowment will help ensure that Williamson is able to continue to fulfill its wonderful mission of providing deserving young men with a quality education in the trades and preparing them to be useful and respected members of society.”

Reid said, “The Rowans and the Lenfests have participated in the purest form of philanthropy. They expect no recognition, new initiatives, or new buildings. They gave to protect the future of an institution they believe in. They gave for the lives of young men who will attend Williamson for generations to come.”

The pledges will nearly double Williamson’s $50 million endowment and investment income from the increased endowment will eventually pay more than two-thirds of the annual operating costs of the School. “However, in years to come, giving to the School must remain at about 30 percent of the operating budget,” Reid said. “We need the continued support of our alumni and friends as well as an additional $3 million in gifts to meet the Rowan’s initial challenge.”