$55-Million Pledged to University; Other Gifts

Five nonprofit organizations have received commitments of $20-million or more:

• Oklahoma State University Foundation, in Stillwater, has received a pledge of $55-million from T. Boone Pickens, founder of Mesa Limited Partnership, in Dallas.

  According to the foundation, Mr. Pickens will establish a $20-million trust for renovations to the football stadium, and plans to include in his will a $35-million bequest to the school. The foundation says that it will use any interest generated by the $20-million trust for scholarships.

• The Virginia College Fund, an organization in Richmond that raises money for five Virginia colleges and universities, has received a trust valued at $40-million from Guy E. Beatty, a member of the Board of Directors of the fund, and his wife, Betty. The trust will make a payment of $1.3-million to the fund each year for 30 years. The money is earmarked for scholarships and technology improvements on the five campuses.

  Mr. Beatty is chairman of the Beatty Companies, in McLean, Va.

• Old Dominion University, in Norfolk, Va., has received $32-million from Frank Batten, founder of Landmark Communications, in Norfolk, for research and faculty support. Mr. Batten was chair of the university’s first board.
• Two anonymous donors have pledged to match up to $25-million raised by the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee. The money, which will be paid when the donors die, is to be used for the organization’s endowment.
• The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Pharmacy has received a $20-million pledge from Fred Eshelman, an alumnus and founder and chief executive officer of PPD Inc., in Wilmington, N.C., a pharmaceutical-development company, for academic programs, faculty support, fellowships, scholarships, and outreach programs.

Other recent gifts:

Carnegie Corporation of New York: $10-million from Mayor Michael Bloomberg, for grants to support small and medium-sized cultural institutions in New York.

Loyola Marymount U. (Los Angeles): $5-million from R. Chad Dreier, president and chief executive officer of the Ryland Group, in Calabasas, Calif., and his wife, Ginni, for capital improvements and academic programs, and to endow a chair in accounting.

Monterey Institute of International Studies (Calif.): $2-million challenge gift from Robert and Marilyn Fisher, of Paris and Key Largo, Fla., to the graduate school of international business for academic programs, faculty support, scholarships, and strategic marketing and recruiting.

Rafael Film Center (San Rafael, Calif.): $1.5-million from Christopher B. Smith of Tiburon, Calif., great-grandson of Byron Laflin Smith, founder of Northern Trust Corporation, in Chicago, and Illinois Tool Works, in Glenview, Ill. The gift will pay some of the debt incurred during the reconstruction of this theater.

Washington U. in St. Louis: $1.5-million from Elizabeth Baker, an alumna, of Houston, to endow a chair in child developmental psychology.