In April, Kenyon College will induct the first cohort of Third Century Founders, 21 donors who made gifts of $1 million or more to the endowment, beginning in 2025. Their contributions are recognized in a wall installation in Peirce atrium, which was unveiled as part of the ceremony.
President Julie Kornfeld celebrated the incredible investment of the group, many of whom are members of Kenyon’s Board of Trustees. “The entire Kenyon community is grateful for this visionary generosity, which echoes the philanthropy on which Kenyon was founded and will ensure more of the permanent resources needed to evolve boldly into our next 100 years,” she said.
Third Century Founders was publicly launched last April with a $25 million commitment from Trustee D. Matthew Voorhees ’95, with the goal of raising $100 million in two years. Endowed funds are invested as part of the College’s endowment and support scholarships, experiential learning opportunities and other college priorities.
George Layburn ’79 made the second-largest commitment to the effort, with an outright gift as well as a planned gift through his estate, in addition to a gift to the Kenyon Fund which he has made every year since he graduated. His endowed gift will support both a professorship in his mother’s name and a scholarship, out of a desire to make higher education more accessible. “Kenyon provided me with the structure and discipline to understand complexity. It taught me how to organize my thoughts, write and communicate. And very importantly, Kenyon provided me with lifelong enduring friendships,” he said.
The audacious, accelerated goal was originally conceived by a member of the board of trustees, who was looking for a way to draw attention to the urgent need to grow Kenyon’s endowment, and spur investment. “The idea, like a lot of them, came from the collision of chance and purpose. The coincidence of the fact that the very first cornerstone at Old Kenyon was laid in 1827, and 10 minutes from now we’re gonna wake up and it’s going to be the 200th anniversary of when that cornerstone was laid; I started to think about how foundational that moment was for the future of what Kenyon was going to be.
“This opportunity to be a Third Century Founder now is not a whole lot different from Kenyon’s founding. It’s slightly less glamorous, but no less virtuous. We all want the same thing: we want this place to be as impactful and special a place for the world as it was for all of us, for generations. And it’s investments like this in the endowment that allow us to go create and build that.”
The effort will conclude June 30, 2027. Achieving the goal will produce roughly $5 million in endowment income each year to support strategic initiatives to position the College for the future and support students today.
Most of the donors are alumni and members of the board. They include several alumni couples, one professor, several Kenyon parents, one foundation and one local family. For many, their gift to the effort is the largest they have ever made to Kenyon. Their names are now on permanent display.
Kornfeld said she hoped the installation would help make the role generosity continues to play at Kenyon more visible. “People who give to Kenyon don’t do it for the recognition, in fact they are quite modest. I am grateful to them for acknowledging the importance of publicly recognizing their investment, which we believe will also inspire others to join them in the future.”
Many of the investments are designated for elements of Kenyon Keys, a strategic initiative currently under development which will unlock connections between Kenyon’s interdisciplinary learning and hands-on experiences to equip students to tackle the challenges of today. In just one example, growing internship stipend funding is a goal: Kenyon currently only has endowed funding to support internships or research for approximately 57 students annually, leaving a wide gap between need and resources.
The initiative comes on the heels of the Our Path Forward to the Bicentennial campaign, which concluded in June 2024, having raised $532 million for all areas of Kenyon. That campaign focused heavily on capital projects, including the West Quad, village revitalization and South Campus housing, while also raising significant amounts for scholarships and Kenyon’s annual funds, like the Kenyon Fund. Alumni, parents and other donors helped add $138 million to Kenyon’s endowment, which stood at $680 million as of June 30, 2025, well behind many of Kenyon’s peer institutions.
In a typical year, endowment income makes up roughly 11% of the operating budget. The majority of the College’s annual revenue currently comes from tuition, an equation Third Century Founders is designed to help rebalance by growing endowment income. As the overall value of the endowment increases, much like a 401(k), the investment income will also be greater, providing permanent resources for the College each year and reducing reliance on tuition.
Third Century Founders Leadership Team
- Mike Arbour ’89
- Melissa Best P’26 & Mark Israel P’26
- Chris Eaton ’89 & Colleen Eaton ’87
- David Horvitz ’74 H’98
- Nettie Keck ’90 & Tom Keck
- Adrianne Kimber ’99
- Karl Slatoff ’92
- Matt Voorhees ’95
- Alex Wright ’05 & Libby Wright ’05