T. Boone Pickens Foundation

August 5, 2010

Forty of the richest men and women in the country — including Tulsa's George Kaiser and Oklahoma State University alum T. Boone Pickens — will donate at least half their wealth to charities, according to The Giving Pledge, a charitable organization of billionaires.
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FEBRUARY, 2010

T. Boone Pickens announces he’ll give another $100 million to his alma mater Oklahoma State University as part of a $1 billion fundraising campaign. The $100 million estate gift will fund a major endowment for scholarships, said Pickens, who has now given more than $500 million to OSU.
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NOVEMBER, 2009

Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert recently presented the UT Dallas Center for BrainHealth’s Legacy Award to T. Boone Pickens, recognizing the legendary energy investor’s generosity and foresight in his support of the center’s brain health research.
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SPOTLIGHT

YMCA

YMCA Building Strong Kids Campaign co-chair, Gail Madden, T. Boone Pickens, and Gordon Echtenkamp, president and CEO of the YMCA of Metropolitan Dallas share a laugh as Mr. Pickens receives a special thank you during dedication ceremonies — a sculpture of four children forming the letters Y-M-C-A. The T. Boone Pickens Foundation focuses grants to organizations that operate in its core giving categories (see “About TBPF”). The current partner spotlight is the YMCA of Metropolitan Dallas, the largest human care organization in Dallas.

YMCA officials, Pickens, and Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert celebrated in early November the large-scale renovation of the 124-year-old organization’s downtown location, made possible by the Pickens Foundation’s $5 million gift, the largest the Dallas YMCA has ever received. The grant is part of the organization’s $29.5 million Strong Kids Capital Campaign that helped create a new and modern place downtown for business employees to work out, as well as a health organizational center for the individuals and families who are part of the expanded residential population moving into condos and apartments in the revitalized downtown residential community. The center was renamed the T. Boone Pickens YMCA.

Building Strong Kids Campaign co-chairs Garrett Boone and Gail Madden, T. Boone Pickens, YMCA president and CEO Gordon Echtenkamp, and Dallas mayor Tom Leppert prepare to cut the ribbon opening the newly renamed Downtown YMCA as the T. Boone Pickens YMCA. In helping to unveil the renovated facilities, Pickens recalled the good times he had at a YMCA camp as a boy. “We played sports, we had rifle practice,” he says. “It was just fun every day.” Pickens has been a member of the Y in many of the cities where he has lived during adulthood. “I'm 81 years old, and I've always been generous with my money. They approached me, and I decided to give. I love the YMCA.”

Pickens’ original company, Mesa Petroleum, was among the first companies in America to institute a corporate wellness program. In the late 1970s, Pickens bought all Mesa employees memberships to the YMCA. His catch to the membership, however, was “use it or lose it.” Pickens, now 81 years old, is still committed to personal health and fitness with a rigorous daily exercise program.

Boone Pickens “We are thrilled that Mr. Pickens, a longtime health advocate, chose to help make this great project a reality,” says Gordon Echtenkamp, president and chief executive of YMCA Metropolitan Dallas. The donation will help the downtown YMCA better serve the fitness needs of a clientele quickly changing from primarily center-city business people to a blend with more full-time, downtown residents, he says.

The YMCA of Metropolitan Dallas, established in Dallas in 1885, serves seven counties and operates more than an additional 100 program sites. Its mission is to put Christian values into practice through programs that build a healthy spirit, mind and body for all.

For more information, visit www.ymcadallas.org.