Donors step up to make Nancy Taylor Challenge a success for scholarships

Blake Long was a senior at Lee University in Tennessee last year—and an admitted YDS student who was trying to decide whether and where to pursue graduate studies in theology—when he took a “Facebook break” while working on a paper. There, he discovered that YDS was promoting the Nancy Taylor Challenge to raise funds for scholarships.

Long was so impressed by Rev. Taylor’s generosity in offering a $200,000 matching grant that he tracked down her email address and sent her a message.

“I am writing to express my sincere thanks for your investment in the next generation of theological leaders,” Long said in his email to Taylor ’81 M.Div., a retired UCC minister and cochair of the We Are Called campaign for YDS. “As a Pentecostal, I want to stay open to the moving and inspiration of the Spirit. Tonight, I felt moved to reach out and extend my appreciation for your ministry as you work to create accessible education for those like me.”

Now, Long is a first-year student at the Divinity School with a full-tuition scholarship and additional funding to help cover living expenses.

He is not the only one who responded enthusiastically to the Taylor Challenge. With gifts from many donors, the YDS community has successfully raised nearly $420,000 for the initiative, surpassing the $400,000 necessary to activate her matching grant and adding about $620,000 to the Divinity School’s endowed scholarship funds.

Rev. Taylor expresses deep appreciation for the people who gave during the newly completed challenge program.

“For me, a gift to YDS is a commitment to, and a vote for, a world filled with bright, theologically informed, biblically astute pastors with a heart for the church—pastors who will touch and change people’s lives, who are versed in hope and made courageous by the Gospel,” Taylor said.

“Even so, giving to YDS can sometimes feel pretty abstract to me. It’s giving to an idea. That is, until someone like Blake Long comes along and, of his own volition, reaches out! All of a sudden you can see and feel and believe in the power of your gift. Blake is awesome. I am inspired by and deeply grateful to him and all the people who support theological education by giving to YDS.”

The Nancy Taylor Challenge was launched in early February as part of the Divinity School’s ongoing effort to improve student financial aid, thus freeing students to pursue their callings with fewer financial constraints and less debt. Over the past dozen years, the share of students borrowing to pay for YDS has shrunk from 75 percent to 37 percent.

“The school is grateful that loyal donors continue to respond with such generosity to challenges like this, as well as our other fundraising initiatives,” said Barbara Sabia, Senior Director of Development. “By supporting students, our donors are investing in a new generation of thoughtful, ethical leaders who will serve and form communities wherever they go after YDS.”

The Taylor Challenge is also part of the We Are Called campaign for YDS, which has raised $121 million toward the campaign goal of $140 million. The campaign priorities are scholarships, academic programs, the Living Village, and justice initiatives. Learn more here.

Long has become a YDS donor and scholarships supporter himself. He chose his donation amount—$25—to match Rev. Taylor’s first gift to her divinity alma mater when she was a recent graduate back in the Eighties.

Early in his YDS career, Long is relishing his divinity school experience and feeling buoyed by the support he has received.

“I enjoyed my theology classes as an undergraduate, but I needed more training. I knew I needed to continue my theological education,” says Long, an ordained minister in the Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee) denomination. “Nancy Taylor’s challenge is making that possible.”

“You can tell a lot about an institution,” he says, “by their alumni.”

September 8, 2024