Literally and figuratively, Louise Marshall was a pioneer in Tucson philanthropy. Almost a century later, her legacy continues to give back through the Marshall Foundation.
Since its inception as Arizona’s first private foundation in 1930, the Marshall Foundation has contributed over $25 million to nearly 1,000 nonprofits in Pima County, with gifts to individual entities ranging up to $500,000 over multiple years. Over the years, the foundation has funded grants to organizations representing diverse interests including children and youth, community development, health care, education, women, human services and has provided scholarships since the 1940s for students to attend the University of Arizona.
“I think that Louise felt it was really important that we educate our population. Everyone needs an education and needs to see themselves in a bigger way. Our community has a lot of poverty and education helps to lift people out of poverty, whether it is vocational degree or a degree in medicine or teaching in planetary sciences or languages — all of these things will help our community to be more sustainable,” said Jane McCollum, general manager of the Marshall Foundation.
To that end, the foundation will open its 2021 annual grant round beginning Jan. 26. Letters of interest will be accepted until 5 p.m. Feb. 16 and can be found online at MarshallFoundation.com; the grants now focus on early childhood through undergraduate education and supportive wrap-around social services to aid underserved populations in attaining education.
Grants start at $25,000 and multi-year requests are welcome.
Among the nonprofits funded last year are Casa de los Niños, Make Way for Books, Literacy Connects, Youth On Their Own, Southern Arizona Research, Science and Engineering Foundation (SARSEF), Job Path, the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona, and a youth sexual health and suicide prevention education program through Southern Arizona AIDS Foundation.
Ultimately, McCollum credits Marshall’s entrepreneurial spirit for making the philanthropy possible.
A Boston native, Marshall came to Tucson in 1898 for health reasons. In 1900, at the age of 32, she became the University of Arizona’s first woman professor; by the next year, she was head of the Department of Ancient and Modern Languages.
Marshall utilized her salary to buy land and develop commercial and residential properties around the university, which McCollum described as a visionary investments.
“She believed in connections between downtown and the university, which was remote at the time. She advocated for an underpass to connect the community downtown to the university. Another fun fact is that she purchased railway stock for the first street car that went from downtown to the university ... she was such a forward-thinking person,” said McCollum.
Marshall’s insight resulted in assets that include more than 160,000 square feet of retail and office space as well as ground leases under university-area apartments, hotels and other buildings. They also include several university-neighborhood office buildings that have been renovated with historic consideration. The foundation gifts 5% of its net worth every year.
“I think she would be proud of how we have used her assets and improved them but still allowed the history to come to life,” said McCollum.
