Hunt family pledges $5.5 million matching funds to DBU_122203

Posted: 12/19/03

Hunt family pledges $5.5 million matching funds to DBU

DALLAS–Dallas Baptist University could receive up to $5.5 million–its largest such grant ever–if funds donated by the family of Ruth Ray Hunt are matched by other donors.

Representatives of the Communities Foundation of Texas and the Hunt family announced the gift in late November. It will designate $1 million in matching money to each of five priorities identified through a strategic planning process.

Previous money from the Hunt family enabled the university to develop a facilities master plan, which will serve as a blueprint for moving the university “from good to great” over the next 10 years, said DBU President Gary Cook.

At the news conference where the $5.5 million matching grant was announced, Ray Hunt and June Hunt (first and third from left) visit with Julie Turner, chairwoman of the DBU board, and Edgar Fjordbak, director of the Communities Foundation of Texas

The five areas of focus are:

Hiring, training and retaining high-quality administrators.

Recruiting and retaining faculty, including a new faculty position to guide students through mission work.

Establishing new scholarships and financial aid to increase enrollment by 1,000.

Enhance the spiritual life of students through a lecture series, cultural events and trips abroad.

Erecting additional buildings on the South Dallas campus.

Four of the five areas will receive the Hunt money on a dollar-for-dollar matching basis as others give. The Hunt gifts to the spiritual life component will prlvide one dollar for every 50 cents pledged by other sources.

DBU trustee Chairwoman Julie Turner praised the Hunt family for their generosity, a spirit she said was exemplified by Ruth Ray Hunt. “You had a wonderful mother who loved Dallas Baptist University,” she told Ray Hunt and June Hunt.

Before her death in 1999, Ruth Ray Hunt had a long association with the university, serving as a trustee, volunteering and giving generously to fund the school.

The outline of the newly announced gift was worked out before her death, her son said, noting that some of the happiest days of her life were spent planning for DBU's future.

June Hunt recalled seeing her mother discreetly give aid to people throughout her life. “She gave covertly,” she said. “Giving that would be recognized would not be the norm.”

Yet her mother “had a gift for anticipating a need and then going on and meeting it,” she added.

The same is true of the major gift to DBU, explained Edgar Fjordbak, director of the Communities Foundation of Texas.

The grant was “very carefully crafted” to inspire greater giving by others, he said. “Dallas needs this kind of university,” which he said exemplifies “servant leadership.”

Cook acknowledged raising the matching funds will be a challenge for the 4,500-student school. “But we've got five years to do it, so it doesn't all have to be done right away,” he said.

For more information about the matching-gift requirements, contact DBU at (214) 333-7100.