Penn State Alumni Association announces $20,000 match for Renaissance Fund gifts

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State Alumni Association (PSAA) has announced a $20,000 matching commitment that will grow the scholarship endowment recently established in honor of 2024 Renaissance Fund honorees Roger Williams, retired PSAA executive director, and his wife, Karen Magnuson, retired assistant director of University marketing. In recognition of the Renaissance Fund's 55th anniversary, the PSAA will match gifts of $550 or more to any named Renaissance Fund with an equal contribution to the Roger L. Williams and Karen L. Magnuson Renaissance Fund.

Earlier this summer, Williams and Magnuson were named the 2024 Renaissance Fund honorees for their contributions to and leadership in the Penn State and Centre County communities through their careers, volunteerism and philanthropy. Since its creation in 1969, the Renaissance Fund has provided scholarship support to academically talented students with the greatest financial need. Williams and Magnuson will be celebrated at the annual Renaissance Fund event this November, which honors volunteer and philanthropic leaders who have made a significant impact in the Penn State and Centre County communities. Each year, a new Renaissance Fund endowment is established in the name of the honorees.

"Both Roger and Karen have shown an abiding commitment to the University's land-grant mission and to making a world-class Penn State degree accessible," said Paul Clifford, chief executive officer of the Alumni Association and associate vice president for alumni relations. "This gift is a testament both to Roger's and Karen's commitment to being lifelong champions of Penn State and to the Renaissance Fund's continued impact on undergraduate students."

Williams served as the executive director of the Alumni Association from 2003 to 2015. His tenure was marked by significant growth in both student and alumni memberships. Today, Penn State is home to the largest dues-paying alumni association in the country, with more than 173,000 members worldwide.

Williams and Magnuson view the matching gift as both a further recognition and an opportunity to deepen the Renaissance Fund's impact.

"We are humbled and honored by this gift from the Alumni Association," Williams said. "Karen and I are proud that the gifts that the matching support inspires will lead to more support for students, who will go on to become proud Penn State alumni themselves."

While the PSAA will match gifts to any named Renaissance Fund, matching funds will be directed to the Roger L. Williams and Karen L. Magnuson Renaissance Fund, named in honor of Williams and Magnuson. Their named fund will join 221 other Renaissance Funds, which, collectively, provided more than $1.6 million in scholarship support to more than 820 undergraduate students in the 2023-24 academic year.

Among former Renaissance Fund honorees is the Alumni Association itself. The recognition came in 2020 in tandem with the organization's 150th anniversary, and alongside Renaissance Fund donors, the organization helped to raise a record-breaking $1.5 million for the Penn State Alumni Association Renaissance Fund. In total, the Alumni Association has contributed more than $18 million to philanthropic funds across the University.

To learn more about making a gift to the Roger L. Williams and Karen L. Magnuson Renaissance Fund, visit raise.psu.edu/Renaissance2024, or contact Kathy Kurtz, associate director of annual giving, at [email protected] or 814-863-2052.

Gifts to Renaissance Fund Scholarships advance the University's historic land-grant mission to serve and lead. Through philanthropy, alumni and friends are helping students to join the Penn State family and prepare for lifelong success; driving research, outreach, and economic development that grow our shared strength and readiness for the future; and increasing the University's impact for families, patients, and communities across the commonwealth and around the world. Learn more by visiting raise.psu.edu.