A free and virtuous society takes buy-in from higher education. That takes big partners.
Since its inception in 1990, the Acton Institute has been buoyed by the support of countless partner organizations, amplifying the Institute’s mission into the worlds of nonprofits, ministry, and business. One of those partners, the Robert W. Plaster Foundation, has been a trusted co-laborer alongside the Acton Institute for eight years.
The Plaster Foundation, founded in 1983 in Missouri by businessman Robert W. Plaster, aims to provide philanthropic support for brick-and-mortar educational buildings in America’s heartland. Now, they’re helping champion the ideas of a free and virtuous society to the people shaping the future of American higher education: college and university presidents.
For almost a decade, the Plaster Foundation has partnered with Acton to recruit college and university presidents to attend the Institute’s flagship conference, Acton University, bringing them in contact not only with the Institute’s more than 2,000 annual AU attendees, but with the timeless vision of fusing good intentions with sound economics. This partnership, bringing Acton’s premier content to the men and women at the helm of major colleges and universities, is one built on a simple but powerful truth: presidents are the primary drivers of institutional engagement, mission fidelity, and long-term viability for higher education.
In an era when small and mid-sized colleges face tremendous financial pressure, recruitment struggles, and often confusing messages from broader culture, Acton’s work with the Plaster Foundation focused on equipping presidents with what they need most to navigate this turbulent moment: mission clarity, financial resilience, and relationships with philanthropic partners who truly understand the difficult world of preserving quality, mission-centric higher education in the 21st century.
Through this partnership, the Plaster Foundation underwrote a dedicated presidents’ cohort at Acton University, creating a space where those presidents can step away from the daily pressures of leadership and engage with peers, funders, and ideas to ensure a bright future for the institutions under their care and control.
“The Plaster Foundation has been an invaluable partner in this event,” notes Noah Gould, Acton’s Alumni & Student Programs Manager. “Plaster’s Board of Directors have been instrumental in building momentum behind the event and recruiting higher education leaders.”
At a moment where too many either cheer on the demise of higher education or simply lack the necessary solutions, the Plaster Foundation actually understands the challenges these leaders face. Partnering with Acton in this presidents’ initiative is a major step in getting to a real solution: not simply survival, but giving those presidents the stewardship skills necessary for coming years. For the Plaster Foundation, economic concerns aren’t disconnected from missional philosophy. Navigating fiscal solvency, and ensuring that higher education remains operational and sustainable aren’t distractions to be shunted off or outsourced. Solving those problems is exactly how those institutions can stay anchored to their founding mission, and avoid the fate of too many small colleges forced to close their doors.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, this fusion of economics and founding philosophy is right at home at Acton University. The past 8 years of the Institute’s partnership with the Plaster Foundation has provided an invaluable environment where conversations can happen between higher education experts that go beyond slogans to actual solutions. At private lunches and sessions, presidents connect with one another and with philanthropic leaders who care deeply about mission-driven higher education. These relationships spark collaborations, strategic initiatives, and that key fusion of ideas and capital that ensures the future of mission-driven higher education.
This partnership is creating real results in the communities around the Acton Institute’s home base in Grand Rapids. As a consequence of the presidents’ initiative at AU, Cornerstone University in Grand Rapids, just miles from Acton’s home, received a Plaster Foundation grant to establish a free enterprise center. What began as conversation and shared vision became a tangible investment in the next generation of students and scholars.
Simply put, this is Acton University working at its best.
By bringing together mission-aligned institutions and funders, such as the Plaster Foundation, Templeton Religious Trust, the Koch Foundation, and others, Acton has become the room where it happens for countless religious, educational, and business leaders: an ecosystem of ideas where value and capital meet and create innovation.