Columbia Sportswear CEO and University alumnus Tim Boyle made a $5 million donation to the University’s $600 million fundraising goal last week.
The donation, announced Friday in Portland, will be broken into two pieces. The larger $3.5 million portion will go to improve and expand the Lundquist Center for Entrepreneurship’s nationally recognized New Venture Championship.
The remaining $1.5 million will be awarded to the University’s School of Architecture and Allied Arts. Its purpose is to provide the resources to plan and implement a proposed multi-disciplinary program in product design and material studies.
Doug Blandy, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at the AAA, said the program, a partnership between the art department and the interior architecture program, which would allow the AAA to respond to the Oregon economy, expressed student wants, and international interests.
“We know from what we hear from students that this is an interest of theirs,” said Blandy. “Product design is currently contributing to the Oregon economy.”
Boyle said the other portion of the gift is meant to expand the Championship and promote further awareness of the event by combining talents in the business college and journalism school, according to a press release.
“(The donation) will further differentiate Oregon and its New Venture Championship, which is one of the key events at the Lundquist Center for Entrepreneurship, from all other business plan competitions throughout the world,” said Dick Sloan, Undergraduate Coordinator for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
The LCE, a division of the Charles H. Lundquist College of Business, has organized the competition each year since it began in 1992 – but it hasn’t been the sole organizer.
The School of Journalism and Communication, which handles public relations for the New Venture Championship, will receive a portion of the $3.5 million. The rest will be awarded to the College of Business.
The Championship is a three-day event where teams from around the world travel to Portland to pitch their products to a judging panel. The winning product receives a $25,000 check to be used as assistance in launching the business. More than half of Championship winners ultimately end up marketing their product.
Boyle’s donation will, among other things, raise the total prize money from $70,000 to $100,000, allowing students greater opportunity to achieve success.
The competition took place this weekend in Portland. The winning team, Mullis Enterprises from the University of Georgia, marketed an organic-based material to eradicate household pests while cutting down on toxicity. One competition judge was so inspired by this year’s Championship that he doubled the first place prize money, providing the additional $25,000 to the winners out of his own pocket.
“He was so impressed by the process and the intense focus on the experiential development of the participant,” Sloan said. “That’s just further evidence of the momentum that has been created and continues to grow, allowing Oregon to rise.”
Sloan said Boyle’s donation will help the LCE reach its goal of attracting more international teams to the competition, especially from the Pacific Rim and China in particular.
“The economy in the Pacific Rim is becoming a much more important part of the world economy,” said Sloan, “and (the University) is strategically positioned on the eastern side of that Asian Pacific Rim. We’re uniquely positioned to really take a leadership position.”
University student Jinn Issarachaikul is also excited about the Pacific inclusion. A Thai student at the University, Issarachaikul said many people in Thailand know about the Championship, but few are aware that it is organized by the College of Business.
“The more you can make the competition known at the international level, the greater you can make the University of Oregon as a whole,” she said.
Issarachaikul spoke highly of the University’s entrepreneurship program, and said it provided her with “unlimited possibilities” and rare experiences such as international travel and entrepreneurial networking.
Graduate student Beth Littlehales has never participated in the New Venture Championship, but she has participated in Venture Quest, a competition sponsored by the LCE and restricted to University students.
Littlehales also praised the LCE. She said investing in the NVC is a wise choice, because it’s not something students learn about otherwise in business school and the curriculum cannot be taught through books.
“The program as a whole was outstanding,” said Littlehales. “They really have the goal of experiential learning. I think it’s a great way to spend money
“This is a very generous gift and as a young entrepreneur, I would like to send him my deep gratitude,” Issarachaikul said.
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