Corporate and Foundation Partnerships + Auburn = Meaningful Impact

What does it take to turn a campus into a launchpad — preparing the next generation, advancing discovery and helping solve the world’s toughest challenges?

At Auburn, it’s pretty simple: partners that don’t just support the mission, they roll up their sleeves and build impact that changes the future.

Foundational Impact: The You Might Be For Auburn Foundation

Meaningful impact often begins with a simple idea — and alumni who know they can do more together than alone. That’s the story behind the You Might Be For Auburn (UMB4AU) Foundation.

One of Auburn’s most distinctive engagement and giving models, UMB4AU was established by David Pursell, a 1980 commercial art major and CEO of FarmLinks at Pursell Farms, and Dan Lovell, a 1990 Harbert College of Business graduate and senior vice president at Graham & Company. They created UMB4AU not only to raise funds for the university they love, but also to increase alumni ties to the university.

“When we talk about Auburn being a family, it’s real and it has been that way for me for more than 50 years,” Pursell said. “The Auburn Family is at the core of our group.”

UMB4AU members champion needs across Auburn’s campus, then contribute collectively toward those projects. Their gifts provide matching dollars, increasing financial impact and aligning donors around shared priorities.

“We want to meet needs on campus, but we really like to support initiatives you can see and touch and feel,” Lovell said.

UMB4AU has helped generate more than $2 million for projects ranging from a synthetic cadaver for hands-on training in the College of Sciences and Mathematics to a Steinway Spirio | r piano in the College of Education — and each gift reflects a shared commitment to tangible, lasting impact.

“We’ve said from the beginning that if all we do is donate $50,000 a year to the university, we have failed,” Lovell said. “Our group was formed not only to help with tangible projects, but also to create lasting relationships with Auburn in ways our members were not connected before.”

Strategic Impact: Boeing

For global aerospace leader Boeing, a partnership with Auburn is rooted in a shared commitment to impact — centered on strengthening the communities where its employees live and work, with an emphasis on education, workforce development and community resilience.

“As Boeing’s executive champion for Auburn University, I work closely with campus leaders to identify opportunities where our grants can have the greatest positive impact,” said Ken McCormick, 1990 mechanical engineering and 2004 MBA graduate and senior director at Boeing.

He knows firsthand how an Auburn education — both inside and outside of the classroom — can equip students to be successful beyond the Plains.

That experience now informs a broader collaboration that aligns education and industry in meaningful ways.

Boeing’s philanthropic support spans engineering, STEM pipeline development and student veteran initiatives— all aimed at bolstering the student experience and future workforce.

Through the Industry Design Experience for Auburn Students (IDEAS) program, Boeing partners with Auburn to employ students on real-world engineering projects, creating a pipeline of graduates with hands-on experience, ready to contribute from day one.

This broader vision of philanthropy invests in people and communities by expanding experiential learning at Auburn and giving more students the kind of preparation that shaped McCormick’s career.

“Students who participate in experiential learning have significantly higher job placement percentages, so we want to increase access to those experiences to the greatest number of students,” he said.

Hands-on Impact: Engineering Consulting Services (ECS)

Tony Fiorillo, a 1992 civil and environmental engineering graduate and president and CEO of Engineering Consulting Services (ECS), believes whole-heartedly in the unique Auburn experience.

ECS, a national leader in geotechnical, construction, environmental and facilities engineering, partners with Auburn through active engagement, shared investment and a commitment to the next generation — creating meaningful student experiences that prepare them to succeed across industries.

That connection is deeply personal: like Fiorillo, many of the company’s leaders are Auburn graduates who understand the transformative power of an Auburn education and want to invest in the next generation.

“At ECS, we believe philanthropy is about building genuine partnerships and addressing the real needs of our communities,” Fiorillo said. “We focus on education because that’s where we can make the most meaningful long-term impact.”

At its core, ECS’ support for students, facilities and hands-on learning helps bridge theory and practice — a commitment made tangible through the ECS Geotechnical Testing Chamber, where classroom learning meets real-world application.

“This allows students and researchers to tackle actual engineering challenges with the tools they’ll use professionally,” Fiorillo said. “We wanted to give Auburn students hands-on experience that simply isn’t available everywhere.”

The company’s broader goal is to expand the connection between industry and education — through mentoring, teaching and ongoing engagement.

“We see this as a long-term partnership,” Fiorillo said. “And building relationships with future engineers is as important to us as any capital gift.”

Want to get involved?

From connection to strategy to hands-on experience, corporate and foundation partnerships help expand opportunities for students, strengthen communities and move Auburn forward.

Discover how you can have an impact at Auburn. Email Auburn Corporate and Foundation Relations at cfr@auburn.edu.