ExxonMobil, Employees Make History with $1.1 Million Donation to LSU

May 9, 2008

ExxonMobil employees and retirees have achieved a new level of giving to higher education with an historic gift to LSU academics. On Thursday, May 9, the ExxonMobil Foundation presented a gift of $1,119,724 to the LSU Foundation. This total represents the matching of more than 340 gifts to LSU made by ExxonMobil employees that were eligible for ExxonMobil’s Educational Matching Gift Program in 2007. With this philanthropic gift, LSU becomes the first university in the world to receive more than $1 million in matching funds from ExxonMobil in one calendar year.

ExxonMobil’s Educational Matching Gift Program is a leader in private industry, having donated more than $36 million to 930 colleges and universities across the United States in 2007. In the past year, LSU’s alumni and supporters within the ExxonMobil Corporation gave more than $647,000 to LSU academics, $373,241 of which was matched on a three-to-one basis by ExxonMobil’s Educational Matching Gift Program totaling $1,119,724. Historically, LSU is one of the top universities in the world for attracting support from this program.

“Of the many people associated with LSU within ExxonMobil, more than half of them took the initiative to give to LSU through this forward-thinking and effective matching gift program,” said Maj. Gen., USMC (Ret.) William Bowdon, president and CEO of the LSU Foundation. “It says a lot about both the character of ExxonMobil as an organization, and our LSU supporters within that organization… that they are willing to invest in the future of our state and our people with great generosity. We are honored to have their support and faith, and the LSU Foundation is proud to partner with ExxonMobil in creating a better LSU for us all.”

Participants in the ExxonMobil Educational Matching Gift Program include current employees, retirees, annuitants and surviving spouses of former employees and company directors. Since its inception in 1962, the program has provided more than $372 million to higher education in the United States.“

For more than 40 years ExxonMobil’s employees and retirees have supported institutions like LSU through their generous contributions through the Educational Matching Gift Program,” said Stan Vanderleeuw, ExxonMobil Baton Rouge Refinery manager. “With this program, LSU and universities throughout the nation have an opportunity to achieve even higher levels of excellence. ExxonMobil is pleased to be a part of that ongoing effort.”

Article excerpted from LSU Public Affairs News Release, Ernie Ballard, LSU Media Relations, mlavall@lsu.edu, 225/578-5706

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