Foundation Giving provides crucial support to all areas of campus. Foundations have made such a lasting impact on Wyoming’s students and the colleges, programs, and facilities that support them. Gifts campus-wide have built buildings, created new programs, and underwritten research that changes the world as we know it.
Some of the biggest impacts across the University of Wyoming campus have come from the support of foundations. Foundations give because it is part of their core mission. Within closely defined parameters, foundations seek to make the world a better place. Foundations seek a return on investment—that is, measurable outcomes that confirm they’ve made smart philanthropic decisions. The UW Foundation strives in every way to honor this contract, and it shows. Student by student, foundation-supported scholarships have built a wealth of human capital.
The Edelweiss Fund of the Jackson Hole Community Foundation supports some vital areas of need for the University of Wyoming—nontraditional students, women in geology, and Latina students. The Edelweiss Nontraditional Student Fund supports nontraditional first-generation students who have long-term ties to Wyoming, with preference given to single working mothers with academic promise. The Edelweiss Women in Geology fund supports summer fellowships for female graduate students working on projects related to physical geography. Finally, the Edelweiss Fund supported the Wyoming Latina Youth Conference, an annual two-day event that empowers Latina students throughout the state in grades 5–12.
The Casper-based Myra Fox Skelton Foundation has been funding scholarships at UW since 1987. Their current generous scholarship supports academically promising UW–Casper students who are single parents. The scholarship helps reduce the number of hours they have to work. This both supports their education and allows them to spend more time with their family. The foundation’s founder and namesake, UW alum Myra Fox Skelton, was the youngest person in the nation to hold the post of Superintendent of Schools—she was Hot Springs County superintendent at age 23. Throughout her life, she was active in philanthropy and volunteer service.
Each year, the Wyoming Community Foundation grants millions in funding to Wyoming’s outstanding nonprofits. On the UW campus, they’ve supported everything from Wyoming History Day to nursing, entrepreneurship to the Art Museum. One of their latest grants, funded through the Wyoming Afterschool Alliance, supports the MakeHER Initiative, a collaboration of the UW Coe Student Innovation Center and Wyoming 4-H that is developing programs for STEM education. The initiative is part of the Million Girls Moonshot, a national initiative that seeks to re-imagine who can engineer, build, and make by engaging more girls in STEM learning opportunities through afterschool and summer learning.
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Katrina McGeeDirector of Foundation Development |
