The Batten Leadership Challenge Is This Man's Way of Just Repaying a Debt

“I’m just giving back,” says Frank Batten Sr., CMA ’45 and Culver’s 17th Man of the Year (1984), of his gifts to Culver Academies. “I don’t consider it generosity. I consider it payback.”

Batten has had an incredible career as a media executive. In 1960, his newspaper The Virginia-Pilot received a Pulitzer Prize for articles championing desegregation. In the years since, he has acquired and developed numerous newspaper, cable, and communication companies, including the Weather Channel.

Today, Frank lives in Virginia Beach with his wife, Jane. Though he is still happy to serve as an advisor on business matters, he has turned the business over to his son, Frank Jr. His focus has turned to family (he and Jane also have two daughters, Mary and Dorothy) and giving back to the institutions that helped shape his character: the Harvard Business School, the Darden Graduate School of Business in Virginia, the University of Virginia, and, of course, Culver.

Our obligation to make gift annuity payments is guaranteed and backed by the total assets of the Culver Educational Foundation.

With a gift of $20 million in 2008 to establish the Batten Fellow Program, the Battens have given more than $54 million to Culver. They have also launched the Batten Leadership Challenge. From now until January 31, 2010, all charitable gift annuities contracted with Culver will be matched dollar-for-dollar by the Battens.

As an added enhancement, donors who couple their gift annuity with an irrevocable bequest commitment in their wills or revocable living trusts of an amount equal to or greater than their annuity will receive an additional 1 percent on their rate of return.

As Batten has argued, “I think business leaders who have been successful have an obligation and responsibility to give back.” The Batten Leadership Challenge is a clear demonstration of Batten’s commitment to this ideal, as well as a strong invitation to other Culver alumni to join him in repaying a debt of gratitude to the school that helped mold their lives.

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