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May 17, 1999
Exxon Corporation Presents $288,897 Matching Gift to Princeton
PRINCETON, N.J. -- Princeton University today announced that the Exxon Education Foundation has given the University a gift of $288,897, which matches the 116 contributions made to Princeton by Exxon Corporation employees, directors and retirees last year. The gift was presented to Princeton President Harold T. Shapiro on Monday, May 10, by Anthony W. Atkiss, a member of Princeton's Class of 1961, who serves as vice president for public affairs of Exxon Corporation and chair of the Foundation's board.
"This generous program brings so many important benefits to the University," said President Shapiro, accepting the gift in Princeton's historic Nassau Hall, "We are grateful to the Exxon Corporation for such thoughtful leadership in this area."
Corporate matching programs bolster Princeton's annual giving effort, which provides unrestricted funding for the University's programs of teaching, research and campus life. These gifts make possible, for example, the exploration of new approaches to teaching, interdisciplinary ventures in the sciences and hands-on research opportunities for engineering undergraduates.
The Exxon Education Foundation, which has one of the most generous matching gift policies among U.S. corporations, matches Exxon Corporation employee gifts to educational institutions on a three-to-one basis. Of the 887 gifts to colleges and universities made through this matching gift program this year, the gift to Princeton is the sixth largest.
Based in Irving, Texas, the Exxon Education Foundation makes donations solely for education and is separate from Exxon's corporate giving programs. In 1998, the Foundation made over a thousand gifts and grants totaling $22 million, while the Exxon Corporation contributed more than $54 million worldwide to a variety of other programs.