Kristin Stout ’89

From one Pioneer to the next.

Kristin Stout ’89 is all in for the fund that supports Grinnell’s greatest yearly needs

Like so many students before and after her, Kristin Stout ’89 was able to attend Grinnell because financial support from the College made it possible.

Now based in Minneapolis, the Campaign Committee member and 1989 co-class fund director grew up in a city neighborhood and south suburban Chicago, the daughter of an administrative assistant and a community college teacher.

“My family didn’t travel, so to go to college with international students and students from a wide variety of backgrounds was pretty eye-opening to me,” she says. “I didn’t even visit campus before I applied. I didn’t know going out of town to do that was common.”

For the past decade, she’s made the College one of her philanthropic priorities, with a special emphasis on the Pioneer Fund, which provides unrestricted funds to Grinnell’s operating budget, allowing the College to spend resources as needed and as opportunities arise. More donors give to the Pioneer Fund than any other account at Grinnell.

“Now that I have the ability to give, I’m grateful for that,” Stout says. “I received substantial aid from Grinnell from what is now the Pioneer Fund. My Grinnell experience had a significant impact on my life in terms of education, as well as socially and culturally. It’s important to me to support that access and experience for current and future students.”

Stout, a senior vice president at Wells Fargo in the technology risk management group, was a self-described ‘policy nerd’ at Grinnell. She majored in political science and religious studies, worked in the campus post office, and spent time on various Student Government Association committees. She went on to earn a master’s degree in public affairs from the LaFollette School of Public Affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and after moving to Minneapolis, began what’s become a nearly three decade business-technology career with Wells Fargo.

“I’ve been able to change jobs and have a variety of careers without changing companies,” she says. “I’ve been able to meet my interest in learning and being challenged in one place.”

Stout also has endowed a scholarship at Grinnell in honor of her mother and mother’s family, the Dougherty Family Endowed Fund, which will continue to grow and provide financial aid to students.

“My mother was always adamant about using your mind,” Stout says. “She was a strong and powerful influence in terms of her expectations of me in this generation of women with broader access to education.”

Stout’s volunteerism extends to serving on the Grinnell-in-the-Twin Cities Planning Committee and organizing Grinnell Global Day of Service events. She’s also attended several of the campaign launch events.

The idea that Grinnell needed money didn’t cross her mind immediately after graduation. “It seemed impossible that my money could mean anything or make a difference,” Stout says. “But I’m in a different position in my life, age-wise and financially. Our giving does matter, in the most basic sense of what the Grinnell experience means. Pioneer Fund gifts benefit the College by allowing investments where money is needed most from year to year.”

The Pioneer Fund is one of the six campaign priorities. Learn more about the Pioneer Fund.

—by Anne Stein ’84