Major donors for KU’s new Anderson Family Football Complex have created a new fund to help support the University’s game-day musicians—the Marching Jayhawks.

Dana and Sue Anderson made a $100,000 gift to KU Endowment to establish an endowed fund for the band. The Andersons live in Los Angeles and make it a point to attend all of KU’s home football games. They love watching the Marching Jayhawks, especially when band members, wearing uniforms and carrying instruments, run down the stadium steps and onto the field.

"I think the marching band is an integral part of the football season and it reflects on the university as a whole," said Dana Anderson, a 1959 KU graduate. "I would urge other people to add to this fund, to whatever extent they can, whether they're prior members of the band or former students, parents of current members, or any KU fan. Anyone who wants to help can make a gift now, or they can include the Kansas University Endowment Association in their will or estate plans to benefit the KU Marching Jayhawks Endowment."

Anderson is vice chairman of the board of directors of the Macerich Company in Santa Monica, Calif. He said their son, Justin Anderson, who is a dentist in Lawrence, and his wife, Jean, both KU alumni, deserve part of the credit for establishing the fund for the band. “They approved of us using those funds for the band," Anderson said. “That was originally designated to go to them through our estate."

Scott Weiss, KU’s director of bands, said the purpose of the new fund is to provide long-term financial security for the band. He said the band has adequate funds to operate on a day-to-day basis but that it’s challenging to come up with additional funds for instruments, uniforms and scholarships. This new fund will help provide for all of these.

Weiss said the ultimate goal is to grow this endowed fund so that it produces the level of funding needed to sustain a culture of excellence. “Then we would be set up financially for the long term."

In the past two years, the band’s membership has grown from 150 to 251. Weiss said that reflects stepped-up recruiting efforts and the availability of more scholarships. During the 2007-’08 academic year, Weiss conducted 52 high school band clinics throughout Kansas and across the country. David Clemmer, director of KU’s athletic bands, also visited high schools, giving presentations about the Marching Jayhawks.

The fund will be managed by KU Endowment, the independent, nonprofit organization serving as the official fundraising and fund-management organization for KU. Founded in 1891, KU Endowment is the first foundation of its kind at a U.S. public university.

Visit the KU Marching Jayhawks feature page to learn about a day in the life of a band member, the perks of being in the Marching Jayhawks, and to see a game day videos and photos.