"The recruiting of scientists by Bill Neaves, our president, and Robb Krumlauf, our scientific director, is going so well that we don’t want to run the risk of having to reduce the momentum because of financial constraints," Mr. Stowers said. "This gift will give scientists an added sense of the dedication to our purpose.
"Everything we are doing is focused on the goal of making this Institute the best of its kind within 25 years," he added. "It is the centerpiece of our dream of making the Kansas City area into a ‘Biomed Valley’ that will lead the world in biomedical research."
The securities consist of the common stock of American Century Companies, which has grown into one of the country’s premier investment management firms since Mr. Stowers founded it as Twentieth Century Investments in 1958.
Originally, the intention had been that this gift would pass to the Institute’s endowment after the deaths of both Mr. and Mrs. Stowers. They decided to make the transfer now to provide added financial stability to the Institute at a critical time in the recruitment of scientists to fill the laboratories of the $200 million Institute campus in midtown Kansas City.
This most recent gift brings the value of the Institute’s endowment above $1.628 billion. To ensure a perpetually growing endowment in support of its research operations, the Institute plans to spend no more than 3.5% of its value each year. Approximately 17% of the endowment is temporarily reserved to support an annuity that will be paid to Mr. and Mrs. Stowers throughout their lifetimes.
The Stowers Institute opened the doors of its research facilities in November 2000 with four laboratories headed by independent scientists. Since then, it has recruited five additional scientists to head laboratories, plus two highly ranked experts in bioinformatics and transgenic technology. Offers are pending to leaders of two additional independent research programs.
By the summer or fall of 2002, the Institute expects to have 16 functioning laboratories, each with a team of 5-10 researchers and technicians. When completely operational, the Institute will house at least 50 independent research programs.
Research at the Stowers Institute is focused on understanding the genes and proteins that control how cells in our bodies divide, differentiate, migrate, and die. By studying these fundamental processes in cells, scientists hope to discover how genes cause many diseases, particularly cancer.
In 1994 Jim and Virginia Stowers decided that they wanted to give back something "more valuable than money" to the millions of investors in American Century mutual funds who made their success possible. As cancer survivors, they decided that their fast-growing fortune should be put to work to find the causes of cancer and other gene-based diseases. They chose to put their efforts behind basic research instead of clinical research or medical treatment because they believe that basic research has the greatest potential for definitively eliminating the threat of many diseases.
Starting with an initial gift of $50 million, they created the Stowers Institute as a nonprofit, medical research organization. Then, they bought the 10-acre site formerly occupied by Menorah Hospital. Construction of the 600,000-square foot complex began in early 1998. The Stowers also followed their initial gift with various other gifts of stock and cash that raised the Institute’s endowment above $500 million prior to the latest gift.
At the beginning of 1998, the banking firm of J.P. Morgan purchased 45 percent of American Century Companies, enabling the Institute to sell some of its shares and accumulate the cash assets to begin operation.
Even after transferring this latest gift to the Institute, Jim and Virginia Stowers retain control of American Century Companies.
For more information, call Kerry O’Connor, Public Relations, (816) 926-4138, or write: kao@stowers-institute.org.