Trust in W&L Continued support from the Lettie Pate Evans Foundation demonstrates the power of endowed giving,

“W&L would not be the institution it is today without this generous benefaction. It shows the remarkable impact that endowment giving can have on an institution.”

Steve McAllister

For close to a century, Letitia “Lettie” Pate Whitehead Evans has made a remarkable impact on Washington and Lee University and the thousands of students who have called it home. Her philanthropic contributions, namely a bequest that has resulted in more than $275 million in endowment funds, impact the entire W&L experience. Evans’ giving touches everything from building renovations to the ability to attract and retain top faculty, to making attending W&L possible for students and their families. With a focus on education, religious and cultural philanthropy throughout her lifetime, Evans’ belief in W&L has played a large part in the institution becoming the liberal arts powerhouse it is today.

Evans, an accomplished businesswoman and philanthropist, was the first woman to serve on the Coca-Cola Company board of directors. After her husband, Joseph Brown Whitehead, died unexpectedly in 1906, Evans took over the family’s real estate assets and business affairs, which included managing the Coca-Cola Company’s bottling operations, to which Evans’ company had exclusive rights. She sold the bottling enterprise — which had grown to more than 1,000 plants in 1934 — back to Coca-Cola in exchange for stock, thus securing her appointment to the board.

She remarried in 1913 to Col. Arthur Evans, and the couple made their home in Hot Springs, Virginia. That move would prove fortuitous for W&L, as Evans struck up a friendship with W&L’s 13th president, Francis Gaines, and his wife, Sadie duVergne Gaines. During one visit, Evans gave President Gaines a check for $20,000, which was used to transform the clay tennis courts into the multipurpose courts on campus today.

Before she died in 1953, Evans ensured that W&L was named among the five college and university benefactors of the Lettie Pate Evans Foundation. The university receives 15% of the income distribution from the foundation each year. At the time of her death, Evans’ estate was valued at $9.3 million, $4.7 million of which was used to fund the Lettie Pate Evans Foundation.

A LEGACY OF GROWTH

At $1.99 billion as of June 2023, W&L’s endowment, bolstered by excellent stewardship from the institution’s leadership and board of trustees, places the university in the upper echelon of liberal arts schools. In 1993, the university ranked 20th in endowment-per-student among private liberal arts colleges in the country; today, W&L is eighth. The endowment is divided into two parts: $1.36 billion, which is internally controlled by W&L leadership and $632 million, which is made up of trusts held by others. Support from the Lettie Pate Evans Foundation makes up 95% of the value of trusts held by others.

Since 1954, the Lettie Pate Evans Foundation has distributed more than $250 million in unrestricted support to W&L. Income distributions from the foundation underwrite the university’s operating budget, providing critical flexibility to address the greatest areas of need each year. And those distributions have increased significantly, starting at $23,786 in 1954 and expected to be more than $18.4 million this year.

At 10% of the university’s revenue, the perpetual contributions from the Lettie Pate Evans Foundation help attract and retain high-quality faculty and staff in terms of competitive salaries and classroom resources and provide funding for both curricular and co-curricular opportunities for students.

“It’s unrestricted, which is the greatest gift you can receive,” says Steve McAllister, W&L treasurer and vice president for finance. “This is the type of support that’s a difference-maker in being a good institution and a great institution.”

As the value of the foundation’s support has grown, so too has W&L’s ability to adapt to the ever-changing needs of students in terms of services, classroom technology and programs. The stability that the university’s largest single endowment provides allows for the forward-thinking flexibility necessary for serving the next generation.

“At its heart, I think support from the foundation is an investment in people,” says Wendy Lovell, director of corporate and foundation relations at W&L. “When you understand the power of unrestricted giving, you also can see that the donor and recipient are entering a trust relationship. Lettie Pate Evans trusted W&L to use her money where it needed it the most, when it needed it the most. The friendship with President and Mrs. Gaines, that became a friendship with Washington and Lee, has led to the biggest gift we’ve ever received.”

At the outset of Evans’ estate gift to W&L, President Gaines said, “We shall not know for some time exactly what amount the university is to receive from this legacy. I am hopeful, however, that it will prove to be among the large and important gifts in our institutional history.”

“W&L would not be the institution it is today without this generous benefaction,” McAllister says. “It shows the remarkable impact that endowment giving can have on an institution.”

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Wali Bacdayan, rector of the W&L Board of Trustees, Will Dudley, president of W&L, Russell Hardin, president of the Lettie Pate Evans Foundation, and Jenner Wood III, chair of the Lettie Pate Evans Foundation Board of Trustees.

GREATEST HONOR

Washington and Lee University posthumously awarded its highest honor, the Washington Award, to Letitia Pate Whitehead Evans during a celebration of philanthropy event in May commemorating the transformative impact of Evans’ philanthropy.

The Washington Award was established in 2001 and recognizes extraordinary acts of philanthropy in support of W&L and other institutions and distinguished leadership and service to the nation.

“In presenting the Washington Award to Mrs. Evans, we recognize that her philanthropy is extraordinary by any measure, and its impact has been felt long after her passing,” said W&L President Will Dudley.