History of the NSU Foundation

The Northeastern State University Foundation was founded on July 27, 1971 as a 501(c)3 charitable organization created exclusively to benefit Northeastern State University. The purpose of the NSU Foundation is to acquire and distribute support for Northeastern State University for charitable, benevolent, educational, scientific and literary purposes. Offices of the NSU Foundation are located in the Gene Branscum Alumni Center (built in 1989) on NSU's main campus in Tahlequah.

Under the outstanding leadership of Clay Felts as the first chairman of the Board of Directors, the NSU Foundation secured $10,000 in private funding within one year of its founding. This support for academic excellence at Northeastern has taken a stronghold among friends of the University over the past 38 years.

This past year marked a great accomplishment for the NSU Foundation. In 2009, the number of donors surpassed 2,200, with direct public support of the institution exceeding 1.9 million dollars (up over 60% compared to 2008).  This milestone was the result of the hard work and generosity of the Foundation Board, and the generosity of thousands of alumni and friends.

In 2009, we also celebrated the generosity from Gregg Wadley and Dr. Betsy Brackett as they donated NSU's first million dollar gift to construct the Cappitola (Cappi) Wadley Center for Reading and Technology.  Their gift will also endow two endowed chair positions for that program.  To learn more about this gift, please click here.