[2] In 1947, Robert M. Kerr, Edwin B. Aldrich and E. C. Sammons established the Oregon State College Foundation with the aid of OSC President A. L.

[3] They saw the foundation as a means of creating opportunities that the college could not fulfill with state funds alone.

Today the university's composite endowment totals more than $819 million,[4] with earnings distributed annually.

[6] At OSU's annual State of the University address in Portland on January 31, 2014, President Edward J. Ray announced that campaign contributions had passed $1 billion, putting Oregon State with a group of 35 other public universities to cross the billion-dollar fundraising mark and one of only two organizations in the Pacific Northwest to reach the $1 billion campaign milestone.

[9] On October 14, 2022, the OSU Foundation and university leaders publicly launched Oregon State’s second university-wide fundraising and engagement campaign, Believe It: The Campaign for Oregon State University.