“There is no better time than right now”
The incredible continued commitment of Paul and Jeanne Hoferer
Paul and Jeanne Hoferer have already had a lot of impact on Washburn.
In 2005, the couple established their first endowed scholarship to benefit law students and are also ardent supporters of the Washburn Women’s Alliance (WWA). In both instances, the support they provided was aimed toward nontraditional students: parents who wanted to pursue a law degree while raising children, or, in the case of WWA, single-parent households.
The overarching support the Hoferers have provided has made a transformational difference at Washburn. It has built buildings, empowered faculty, and provided seed money for a variety of projects and programs.
“The more you get involved, the more you see where the money goes and what a difference it makes,” said Paul. “It inspires you to dig even deeper, because you see what a life-changing impact it has.”
Paul would know – it is not an exaggeration to say that he has held every volunteer leadership position there is at the law school, where he earned his law degree in 1975, including serving as chair of their Board of Governors. He and his wife were also the chairs of the School of Law building campaign. When the new building opens this July, it will have a classroom bearing their names.
Jeanne agrees that their high level of commitment only inspires them more. “I like to help – I get a joy out of giving,” she said. “So, every time there is an opportunity for us to do something that will help students, we take it. Because we’ve seen how much it helps.”
A 1980 graduate of the business school, Jeanne has also been deeply involved with Washburn. She spent several years as the alumni director and director of university relations at Washburn – she was a driving force behind the Bradbury Thompson Alumni Center, among other things – and has been a member of WWA, a founding member of Washburn Women Venture Partners, and served on the foundation board of trustees off and on since the 1980s, including as chair from 2012 to 2014, when she helped launch the university’s 150 Forward fundraising campaign.
But there is one thing, until recently, this Washburn power couple hadn’t done.
“When I worked here, I always wanted to be a member of the Whiting Society,” Jeanne said, referring to those friends and alumni who have included Washburn in their estate plans. “Every year, the Whiting Society dinner would come around, and I’d think, “we need to do that.” But you always think you have lots of time to get around to it.”
This year, however, the time finally came. After having already done major philanthropic projects for the law school, and for capital campaigns, Paul describes having a “what can we do next” mentality. That just happened to coincide with the I Will for Washburn campaign, a challenge in which two donors have agreed to provide any new estate commitment donors with an extra $10,000 to add to the Washburn fund or program of their choice.
“The genius of that gift from the Greenwoods and McPhersons is that it really encourages people to say, ‘why not now?’” said Paul. “I don’t know why we waited so long; it is incredibly easy – it can be as simple as just a short codicil in your will.”
The Hoferers decided to direct the $10,000 to Washburn Women’s Alliance, while their estate commitment will create the Jeanne & Paul Hoferer School of Business Scholarship. The scholarship will be for students who are the first in their families to go to college – as was the case for both Jeanne and Paul. Maybe someday, the students who benefit from their philanthropy will also find ways to give back to the university and community they love.
“When I came here as a student, I was married, we had two kids, Paul had just gotten out of the army – we had to make our own path,” Jeanne said. “But Washburn excels at nurturing those kinds of students, and it certainly did for us.”
“It seems only fair to pay that forward,” added Paul. “The I Will for Washburn fund won’t be around forever. There is no better time to make an estate commitment than right now.”
To learn more about how you can create your own legacy gift to Washburn, contact Erin Aldridge at 785.670.4483 and PlannedGiving@wualumni.org.
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