Financial Resources

Theory of Transformation:  Financial Resources

Key actions to provide financial support for diversity, equity, and inclusion include:

Securing resources:

• Allocating existing college resources – Through the annual budgeting process, the college allocates millions of dollars each year to support the college’s DEI efforts
• Securing new resources through fundraising – Since 2006, the college has raised more than $13 million in DEI-designated gifts and pledges from alumni and friends of the college, supporting more than 85 different funds for student scholarships, teaching and learning, student support services, and co-curricular programming
• Securing new resources through grant funding – Since 2006, the college has secured more than $12.5 million in grant funding from government, corporate, and non-profit organizations to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion in teaching and learning, student services, and scholarly research

Using resources:

St. Olaf uses funds from budgeting, fundraising, and grant-seeking to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion in a wide variety of ways.  Examples include:

• Meeting the full demonstrated financial need of every student through grants, loans, and student employment awards funded by the college’s financial aid budget
• Supporting the people, programs, policies, and practices described in all the other Action Domains through the annual budgeting process, such as designated DEI staff positions; strategies to recruit and retain diverse students, faculty, and staff; curriculum content; and DEI data reporting
• Enabling equitable student participation in high-impact experiences through resources such as:
  • The Johnson Family Opportunity Fund providing financial support for career-enhancing experiences in the Piper Center
  • An endowment enabling students to participate in the Global Semester for the same cost as studying on campus
  • Other St. Olaf scholarships supporting off-campus study
  • An endowment enabling students to participate in international music tours without incurring additional cost
• Supporting the student experience for underrepresented students through resources such as:
  • The George Floyd Fellowship for Social Change supporting black American students
  • A variety of endowments supporting the Taylor Center for Equity and Inclusion, such as the Glenn and Myretta Taylor endowment and the Etnyre and Lonesome-Etnyre endowments
  • The Ronald E. Hunter Endowment providing scholarships for student members of the Cultural Union for Black Expression (CUBE)
  • Donor gifts supporting the St. Olaf Emergency Fund and the St. Olaf Grab and Go program
• Enhancing diversity, equity, and inclusion in teaching, learning, student support, and scholarly and creative activity through resources such as:
  • A four-year, $800,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation supporting To Include is To Excel, an initiative fostering equity and anti-racism in curriculum and pedagogy that engaged more than 4,300 students and almost half of all St. Olaf faculty members teaching during the grant period
  • A $1.31 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education that enabled the college to launch the TRIO Student Support Services for Students with Disabilities (SSSD) program
  • A $1.33 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education supporting the college’s TRIO Student Support Services (SSS) program
  • A $996,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to support mentorship and research experiences for low-income, academically talented first-year students pursuing majors in biology or chemistry
  • Numerous professional development grants to individual faculty and staff of all identities supporting research, publications, and artistic works focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion
  • Numerous professional development grants to individual BIPOC faculty and staff supporting their research, publications, and artistic works, increasing their representation in their professional fields