On November 21, we invite all Augsburg alumni and friends to join us for Give to the Max Day, a celebration of generosity and community spirit! Between now and then, we need your support for our 38 fundraising initiatives that are seeking your generosity.
From the Augsburg Fund that supports scholarships for students, to targeted funding for departments, student organizations, and athletics, there’s a project for everyone to support!
Here’s how you can contribute to our Give to the Max efforts:
Make a gift: Explore our list of projects and donate to the ones you want to support.
Gift of stock or IRA distribution: If you’re considering these options, please reach out to our advancement office at giving@augsburg.edu for more details.
Spread the word: Share how Augsburg University has made a difference in your life. Whether through social media posts, emails to friends and family, or sharing our giving link, your voice can amplify our mission. We’d love to see your posts about Give to the Max Day 2024! Use the hashtag #AuggiesGive and tag @AugsburgUniversity and @AugsburgAlumni to connect with the larger Augsburg community.
Your support for Augsburg nurtures the exceptional education and community that sets us apart. Together, we can transform lives – your contribution to any of these projects fuels the very initiatives that are shaping the future of our students.
The first family member of Phil Hoversten ’71 to graduate from Augsburg was his uncle Knut Holversten in 1930. Since then, four generations and 40+ Hoversten family members have attended Augsburg, including Phil who graduated in 1971 with a degree in biology. “I knew I wanted to go into pre-med and Augsburg gave me a generous financial aid package that first year,” Phil said.
However, Phil’s path to graduation was not without its challenges. He experienced financial hardship after his first year, but with encouragement from his professor, John Holum, Phil decided to stay at Augsburg. “The caliber of instruction, the smaller class sizes, and the individual attention I received helped me do well,” he reflected. Phil’s experience at Augsburg prepared him for medical school at the University of Minnesota. He had a 24-year career at Allina Health as a Physician in Occupational Medicine until his retirement in 2020.
Throughout the years, Phil has kept in touch with a few fellow students from his time in the choral club, but, Phil’s primary connection to Augsburg is rooted in his family’s enduring legacy. In the 1980s several Hoversten family members contributed to the construction of the Hoversten Chapel. “I’m fortunate that my family listened to what the college needed at the time,” Phil shared as he reflected on the vision for a multi-purpose space. Today, the Hoversten Chapel is a central location for worship, music, and other community-building events.
The belief in Augsburg as a unifying and dynamic community has been a cornerstone for Phil and his family for generations. Phil said he sees his unrestricted giving as his link to the Hoverstens’ commitment to supporting education centered on service and a connection to the gift his relatives established forty years ago
The concepts of experiential learning and meaningful engagement in local communities, introduced by Augsburg Department of Sociology founder Joel Torstenson have deeply resonated with Phil. “Schools have been faced with great difficulties recently. There was a [time I experienced ] tremendous need here and it motivated my desire to give back to the place that gave me my education, This is my way of supporting local efforts.”
For Phil, unrestricted giving has the potential to lead to incredible change. “I look at the beautiful buildings like the Hagfors Center that accommodate a modern education and all the programs that support our diverse student body… I understand the difference it makes when universities have the means to be sure critical areas are funded,” he shared. “I encourage others to consider an unrestricted gift”
Through his commitment to giving back, Phil continues to strengthen the legacy of his family at Augsburg, ensuring generations of Auggies have opportunities to thrive in a community that helped shape his life and many others.
To celebrate and recognize the generosity of our Augsburg Fund donors, Augsburg University has established giving societies. Annual gifts at any society or sustainer level secures a bright future for our students, but each society will be recognized distinctly according to their cumulative yearly (from June 1-May 31 each year) giving to the Augsburg Fund.
Ambassadors Society $1,000 – $2,499.99
Leadership Society $2,500 – $4,999.99
Directors Society $5,000 – $9,999.99
Deans Society $10,000 – $24,999.99
Presidents Society $25,000 – $49,999.99
Founders Society $50,000+
Other Giving Societies
Maroon and Silver Society Gifts of $1,000 or more to support any fund or initiative at Augsburg. *Note: If you make a gift of $1,000 or more to the Augsburg Fund, you will be a member of the Maroon and Silver Society and one of the above societies.
Augsburg Sustainers Augsburg Sustainers make a monthly contribution to Augsburg University
Sven Oftedahl Society Sven Oftedahl Society members have committed a planned gift to Augsburg University
For more information on Augsburg’s Giving Societies, visit our webpage. Thank you for investing in a bright future for our students!
As we wrap up 2023, consider making an impactful gift to support Augsburg before the end of the year.
Will you make a year-end gift to help us raise funds for Augsburg students?
Your year-end gift to the Augsburg Fund will make a difference, no matter the size. Last year, Augsburg directed 100% of Augsburg Fund gifts to student scholarships. By supporting this fund again this year, you are investing in the leaders, innovators, and change-makers of tomorrow.
And thanks to our Board of Regents, every gift up to $275,000 will be matched dollar-for-dollar. Your gift to the Augsburg Fund can have double the impact!
Timaka Wallace ’23 is a Chicago native who earned her Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) degree through Augsburg’s DNP Transcultural Nursing Leadership tract and serves as an adjunct professor. Her connection to Augsburg goes back to 2014. “I was already in a psychiatric nurse practitioner program on the East Coast, however, I wasn’t having a good experience at the school,” Timaka recalled. “I thought because I was a bit of an older student, the culture of the school and seeing a representation of myself wasn’t important. But I learned a valuable lesson in never going to a school I didn’t visit.”
She decided to take a leave from school and, during that time, visited Minnesota to check out Augsburg. After spending two days on campus with Department Chair and Associate Professor Joyce Miller and retired faculty member Janet Lee Stockwell, Timaka knew Augsburg was the right place for her. “Even though this trip was in 2014, every so often over the years they would reach out to me to see how I was doing.” Timaka ended up completing her graduate program and when COVID hit in 2020 she had already been accepted to Augsburg. “It was difficult,” she shared candidly. “The Transcultural Leadership group was going to visit countries and assist with nursing from a variety of cultures and we were robbed of that opportunity because we couldn’t travel, but I ended up getting the community my spirit yearned for so it’s still been a great experience.”
A pivotal moment for Timaka came when she gave a presentation in April 2022 on how daily activities connect to the cross-generational trauma transmission in African American culture. “It was a heavy topic, but the feedback I got from my professor and Joyce demonstrated to me that they understood the change that needs to happen. I knew I was in the right place on that day.” As the nursing program continued to increase its efforts towards dismantling racism in healthcare, leadership intentionally sought out African American representation and leadership in these conversations. Later, Timaka was asked if she would be interested in co-leading a course with Dr. Katie Clark, which she eagerly agreed to.
For Timaka, the opportunities she has received as a student and adjunct professor in the nursing program are centered around stewardship and what it means to give back. She is a recipient of the Lloyd A. and Barbara A. Amundson Nursing Scholarship Honoring Dr. Paul Mueller ’84. “This scholarship is really a full circle moment,” she shared. “It warms my heart to hear they [The Amundsons] formed a connection with Dr. Mueller on their healing journey and paid homage to him through this scholarship, and now Dr. Mueller is leading the Great Returns campaign effort! This is what paying it forward looks like.” Timaka hopes she can find ways to continue these acts of kindness by supporting future nursing students. “It’s so important to have conversations with students like me who are beneficiaries of these scholarships of how to pay it forward as you get yourself aligned to financially do so.”
To learn more about the Great Returns campaign efforts visit our website
On November 21, we invite all Augsburg alumni and friends to join us for Give to the Max Day, a celebration of generosity and community spirit! Between now and then, we need your support for our 38 fundraising initiatives that are seeking your generosity.
