The Greater University Fund at the University of Minnesota was established in May 1947 by a joint action of the board of directors of the General Alumni Association and the Board of Regents, for the purpose of providing a continuing alumni endowment to the University. The Fund was overseen by the General Alumni Association and was named after the Greater University Cooperation, which conducted fund raising campaigns for Memorial Stadium, Northrop Auditorium and Coffman Union in the 1920s. Stanley J. Wenberg served at the first director from 1947-1953, followed by Robert P. Proust (1953-1960) and Joseph H. Davidson (1960-1962).
The purpose of the University Fund was "to encourage and enable the alumni and friends of the University of Minnesota to share in forwarding the total educational program of the University, including teaching, research, and services for the public good, and to supplement the University income through alumni giving as well as through bequests and devises."
Iin 1962, the Minnesota Alumni Association decided to dissolve the Greater University Fund after it was recommended that the University establish the University of Minnesota Foundation, a non-profit corporation of the State of Minnesota, to raise funds for the University.
From the guide to the Greater University Fund proposals, 1948, (University of Minnesota Libraries. University of Minnesota Archives [uarc])
