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For their alma mater, they keep giving back

An endowment from George and Lisa Etheridge will help the University of Florida's business school attract top faculty members by providing research money and stipends.

By TIFFANI SHERMAN
Published August 6, 2005

PALM HARBOR - Many people measure success by how much money you make. Others measure success by what you are able to give back.

"I know for a fact, the more you give, the more you get," said George Etheridge, 48, of Palm Harbor. He and his wife, Lisa, 46, recently endowed a professorship at the University of Florida's Warrington College of Business Administration. "When I am given the gift of money, we do our best to share."

The money - it's in the six figures, though the Etheridges declined to discuss the exact amount - will go toward university president Bernie Machen's Faculty Challenge Initiative, and the state will most likely match the gift.

The money will create an endowment to help UF attract and retain top faculty members by providing research money and stipends, according to the university. The initiative began in August 2004 and has a goal of $150-million.

"If Florida is going to be a top university, they have to have the top professors," Etheridge said.

Andrew McCullough, the business school's senior associate dean, said, "These endowments generate income to support world-class faculty."

Top faculty members, McCullough said, "need their tools of research and tools of teaching," including computers, software and other technology, as well as technical support. The business school has more than a dozen professorships.

Both George and Lisa Etheridge benefited from the professors at UF. Both graduated with marketing degrees from the business school: George in 1979, Lisa in 1980. The Etheridges have two high school-aged children, both of whom are considering going to UF.

"We feel it's part of our own obligation to give back to those who have helped us achieve our goals," George Etheridge said.

One of those goals was opening a business. The Etheridges own Precision Orthopedics Inc. The Tampa company distributes high-tech orthopedic supplies. Over the years, the Etheridges have also donated money to provide two full scholarships to UF undergraduate business students each year. They did not want the amount of their donations listed.

"The size of the gift doesn't matter," Lisa Etheridge said. "It's the idea."

Added George, "It's the importance of giving and sharing. Success is not keeping all the marbles; it's giving back."

The Etheridges are not alone in their thinking. According to the Independent Sector, a Washington, D.C., leadership organization for charities, foundations and corporate giving programs, 89 percent of American households made charitable contributions in 2000. The average donation was $1,620 or 3.1 percent of their income.

"If somebody gave $10 to a cause they believed in, that would be excellent," Etheridge said. He said he is trying to encourage others to give a little back to their alma maters or religious organizations, or to a cause.

"Our whole message is to do all that we can and to inspire others to do all that they can," Etheridge said. "The more you invest and give, the more you get."

[Last modified August 6, 2005, 01:37:26]