Jack P. Carroll ‘24
Managing Editor
Trinity College has received a $10 million donation from former Trinity Trustee and Connecticut State Treasurer Francisco L. Borges ‘74, H’20, his wife Luisa, and siblings Peter L. Borges ‘80, Francesca Borges Gordon ‘82, Maria Borges Correia ‘85, and Joaquina Borges King, who attended Wesleyan University. The admissions, financial aid, and student life building will be renamed the “Manuel and María Luisa Lopes Borges Admissions Center” in honor of the Borges siblings’ parents.
“The Borges family’s contribution will specifically support outstanding students who would not otherwise be able to attend college,” said Berger-Sweeney in an email to the Trinity College community Tuesday. “This gift is the largest commitment to date to the college’s $500 million campaign. It also pushes the total raised for financial aid to nearly $50 million, which is halfway to our $100 million goal for that purpose.”
Vice President for College Advancement Michael Casey told the Tripod via email that Trinity will begin to use the donation to award scholarships next year. He indicated that the gift will be invested along with Trinity’s endowment, “similarly [sic] to how we responsibly manage all donations to the College with the involvement of an appropriate governance group.” Casey noted that Trinity has raised roughly $48 million for financial aid.
A Nov. 23rd press release from the College reported that Manuel and María, to whom the gift pays tribute, immigrated to the United States with Frank from their home country of Cape Verde in 1958 and settled in New Haven, Connecticut. After Manuel’s death in 1971, María raised their five children and ensured that they finished their formal education. “Our parents believed in a strong work ethic. Growing up, we heard many, many times the expression studa ku empenhu, a Cape Verdean phrase that means ‘study with earnestness,’” said Francisco who The Hartford Courant reports is now a partner at global investment firm Areas Management and board chair of the Knight Foundation.
The $10 million is among the largest donations that Trinity has received in recent years. The Tripod reported in 2018 that Trinity had received an unrestricted bequest in the amount of $12.3 million from Charles Guilford Woodward ‘98, an alumnus and former trustee of the College. Casey told the Tripod at the time that Trinity would use the money to help reach its target in the general endowment category which is a critical feature of the College’s Bicentennial Strategic Plan and annual budgeting process.
M. Steven Williams: Frank, congratulations to the Borges family for its generous contribution to Trinity in support of educating exceptional students. Honoring your parents appropriately acknowledges their focus on the importance of education that you and your siblings followed. This example should be lead other alumni to support alma maters. Walk in sunshine.