Endowment benefits Conservatory and the Women’s Council Graduate Assistance Fund 

The late Caroline McBride French was an enthusiastic UMKC Conservatory donor and volunteer. A successful attorney in Kansas City, French was active on the Friends of the UMKC Conservatory board, a fervent supporter of Crescendo, the Conservatory’s signature fundraiser and a member of the UMKC Women’s Committee for the UMKC Conservatory.

“Music was her primary love,” says Don Dagenais, a longtime Conservatory supporter. “She had a great business sense and made very sophisticated investments. As a woman attorney in her day, she must have been quite a barrier breaker.”

Her business acumen and her love for the arts resulted in a generous gift to support academic assistance for students at UMKC. Her estate gift of $800,000 will establish The Caroline McBride French Endowed Scholarship Fund of the UMKC Conservatory. An additional $460,000 will support the William L. and Caroline M. French Graduate Assistance Fund (GAF) named award through the UMKC Women’s Council.

“We are grateful for Mrs. French’s support,” says Diane Petrella, dean of the UMKC Conservatory. “Endowed scholarships like this one ensure that we are able to bring more talented students into our programs. For many of them, scholarships are the essential piece of the puzzle that makes pursuing a degree in the arts a possibility.”

As an attorney, French would have been aware of the need to support women in advanced degrees. The Women’s Council Graduate Assistance Fund has provided short-term assistance to more than 2,200 women graduate students since its inception in 1970.

“Every time we receive a major gift like this one from Caroline French, we know it will help countless number of women complete their research, travel to perform or present at an academic conference or afford other expenses that may otherwise stand between them and an advanced degree,” says Debbie Brooks, J.D., president of the UMKC Women’s Council board of directors. “We are fortunate that Caroline had the foresight to provide these women that opportunity.”