McInerny Foundation to Match Alumni Donations to University of Hawaiʻi for Fourth Straight Year

The University of Hawai'i Foundation announced that the McInerny Foundation will renew its McInerny Match Program with the University of Hawai'i for the fourth straight year, as they challenge University of Hawai'i alumni who have never before donated to their alma mater.

The McInerny Foundation will match the donations of first-time alumni donors up to a maximum of $100 per match and a total of $50,000. More than 7,000 first-time alumni donors rose to the challenge during the first three years of the McInerny Match Program, bringing alumni participation to an all time high with a current 12 percent participation rate for the University system and a 14 percent participation rate for UH Manoa. Officials hope to improve even further on these numbers during the new program period.

"We are greatly appreciative of the generosity and commitment displayed by the McInerny Foundation over the past three years and look forward to another great year of partnership," said UH President Evan S. Dobelle. "The investment they have made in the University of Hawai'i has been an inspiration to our alumni and I hope other corporate and civic organizations will follow their lead in supporting the university."

"The McInerny Foundation values the University of Hawai'i and its role in educating our future leaders," said Paula Boyce of Pacific Century Trust, trustee for the McInerny Foundation. "The success and prosperity of the University of Hawai'i depends on the support and contributions of alumni and we are proud to help facilitate these relationships."

The McInerny Foundation was set up in 1937 and is comprised of the three estates of siblings Ella, William and James McInerny. They placed control of the foundation in the hands of the Bishop Trust Company, which is now Pacific Century Trust, and left it up to the organization to handle investments and to choose the members of the distribution committee, with the stipulation that the income from the three combined estates be distributed exclusively to charities in the state of Hawai'i. Today, the McInerny Foundation is particularly recognized for its generous contributions to education and social services, as well as culture and the arts, environment, and health and rehabilitation.