LEWISBURG, W.Va. (WVDN) – For a little more than a decade, the Maier Foundation has invested in the future of West Virginia’s health care workforce by helping West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine (WVSOM) students overcome one of the greatest barriers to becoming physicians: the cost of medical education.
The Charleston, W.Va.-based nonprofit has supported scholarships at WVSOM since 2015, contributing to the school’s endowment resources and to direct scholarship funds that immediately benefit students. Those investments reflect the mission to strengthen higher education in West Virginia that has guided the foundation for generations.
The Maier Foundation’s roots trace back to William J. Maier Jr., a Harvard Law School graduate and philanthropist whose belief in the power of education still shapes the organization’s priorities today. The Clarksburg, W.Va., native created the Sarah and Pauline Maier Scholarship Foundation in 1958, naming it for his mother and his wife.
Maier’s grandson, Brad Rowe, represents the organization’s third generation of leadership. As its president and CEO, Rowe said about 95% of the foundation’s funding goes toward higher education, with the remaining 5% benefiting arts institutions in Kanawha County, including the Clay Center, FestivALL and others.
“Our main goal is to help strengthen West Virginia’s colleges and universities and encourage students to matriculate and graduate,” Rowe said. “Our hope is that after they graduate, they will stay in the state and prosper here. My grandfather made his money in West Virginia and attributed his success to his education, and he wanted to give back by focusing on the state’s students.”
At WVSOM, the foundation’s philanthropic efforts come in the form of direct scholarship support, and as grants to the West Virginia Emulation Endowment Trust, where they earn returns that are distributed to the WVSOM Foundation, the charitable organization that supports WVSOM.
In all, the Maier Foundation’s West Virginia Emulation Endowment Trust provides named scholarship endowments at 14 higher education institutions. The inclusion of “Emulation” in the trust’s title represents Maier’s intention to honor individuals who are admirable role models.
“When my grandfather started the trust, the idea was that each scholarship fund would be named after someone worthy of emulating, someone he respected,” Rowe said.
WVSOM’s scholarship at the trust is named for the school’s president from 1987 to 2009, Olen Jones Jr., Ph.D., who helped guide WVSOM through an era of prosperity. The Dr. Olen E. Jones Jr. Scholarship is awarded to in-state students based on criteria such as literary, scholastic and leadership achievements.
Much of the Maier Foundation’s support of WVSOM students comes in the form of challenge grants, where a grantee is required to raise a designated sum on its own before a donor will match that sum. Rowe said the foundation’s board of directors finds challenge grants to be a powerful framework for giving.
“They provide a multiplier effect,” Rowe said. “They allow us to leverage our resources to bring in additional funds to achieve a particular purpose. Challenge grants force organizations to expand their donor base or re-engage their previous donors. They serve as a carrot that pushes organizations to go out and raise even more money.”
The WVSOM Foundation has met escalating challenges each year since 2021, raising $1.15 million toward funds matched by Rowe’s organization. Along with WVSOM Foundation support, those earnings have helped fund approximately $143,000 in student awards to date.
Between the endowment and direct scholarship support, the Maier Foundation has so far contributed $1.4 million earmarked for WVSOM students since it began working with the school.
The goal is to help ease the financial burden placed on promising medical students, Rowe said.
“WVSOM continues to educate some of West Virginia’s best and brightest students. But going to medical school can be scary because of the cost, and our funds defray some of that. Our hope is that the additional support will help get students through the finish line to graduation,” he said.
Rowe said he thinks WVSOM plays a critical role in helping West Virginia deal with the health difficulties it has long faced.
“We particularly like the fact that many of WVSOM’s graduates go into primary care, and that many of them stay in the region and directly improve health outcomes for West Virginians,” he said. “I live and work here, and I’ve seen the challenges the state has with health care. WVSOM and its graduates are part of the solution.”
Donette Mizia, WVSOM’s executive director of foundation relations, said she is thankful that the Maier Foundation’s goal of improving health care in the state aligns with WVSOM’s own ideals.
“Their sustained investment in scholarships has provided meaningful, direct support that allows our students to focus on their training and commitment to serve others,” she said. “We are deeply grateful for the Maier Foundation’s longstanding partnership and shared belief in the power of education to strengthen West Virginia’s health care workforce.”
