Opening Letters

Feeling Philanthropic

mulling the future of Eau Claire’s philanthropic traditions

Eric Rasmussen |

I wonder how the townspeople of Eau Claire felt about Mr. L.E. Phillips when he was alive. Was he the sort of wealthy tycoon who strutted around town with his fancy cane, monocle firmly in place, flipping nickels to the young rapscallions who followed him around? Or was he the type of person who sat in his darkened study, maniacally counting hundred dollar bills, while Bob Cratchit-like employees begged for more coal to heat the National Presto building?

I find it very interesting that as far as modern Eau Claire is concerned, it makes absolutely no difference what sort of person he actually was, because he will always be remembered as a generous, community-minded philanthropist. With a library, senior center, university science building, treatment center, Boy Scout camp, and planetarium, we all make the assumption that he was one of those rich people that we love, who understood how he had benefited from the community and was willing to return the favor. Whether those contributions came directly from him, or from his charitable foundation after he passed away, we love the guy.

I started thinking about Mr. Phillips, and Eau Claire’s strong historical tradition of philanthropy from the likes of Misters Hobbs, Carson, Owen, Randall, Phillips, and many more after reading an article in Time magazine about a massive, breathtaking new art museum in Arkansas built by Alice Walton, heiress to the Wal-Mart fortune. I have enjoyed hating Wal-Mart for a long time, and can conjure up a truly impressive amount of smugness about my decision to avoid Wal-Mart for all of the popular reasons – killing downtowns, environmental unfriendliness, and not paying their employees livable wages. I have noticed as Wal-Mart has tried to improve their image, but nothing has cracked my retail loathing of them. But this museum … Look, they still are a major drain on a community, and the way they’ve sometimes treated their employees is inexcusable, but this institution Walton has created is not some PR-oriented TV commercial. Spending $1.2 billion on what may become one of America’s greatest art institutions means something. And just imagine how much that destination will economically enrich the community of Bentonville, AR. We’re not cool, Wal-Mart, don’t get me wrong. But that’s a pretty good start.

We are in the midst of the occupy movement, which is politics, which means I have just broken out in hives, because writing about anything political means people out there might get mad at me, which means I will have to bake a lot of cookies to make it up to everyone. But since we are talking about rich people and how the rest of us feel about them, it certainly can’t hurt to ask. We like L.E. Phillips. We generally like Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, with their foundations and promises to give away half of their wealth. Why are these rich people OK, while the collective opinion of the rest of the moneybags out there is continuing to decline in value?


I think Eau Claire is an interesting microcosm to explore the answers to that question. A lot the names that I think we all appreciate as the generous city grandpas of yore discovered something – or at least their families and the caretakers of their estates discovered something – that some of today’s wealthy have forgotten. A lot of the names listed earlier were not the kind of people most would ever consider looking up to. Several were lumber barons who pillaged Wisconsin’s natural beauty to a degree that would give modern environmentalists heart attacks. Mr. Phillips rode National Presto to fortune on defense contracts. But they understood, when it was all said and done, that their bank accounts were not filled in a vacuum, but as members of a community. And it is not that they tricked us into overlooking whatever undesirable steps they took in their ascents to the top. I think they genuinely made good on their ends of the relationship of the wealthy and a community. To whom much has been given, much is expected. Write that down. It sounds like it could be a famous quotation or something.

I think Eau Claire has always had and will continue to have a great reputation for giving. Individuals and small business owners always seem to do an incredible job supporting community enrichment causes, like the library’s most recent renovation or the Children’s Theater’s new building. But I don’t think this is about them. As for our one-percenters, we have many that are upholding the philanthropic tradition. Mary Jo Cohen, current president of National Presto and carrier of the L.E. Phillips torch, bought the library’s loaner iPads, which earned national attention as an innovative program. Our resident .0000001-percenter, mega-billionaire John Menard, recently gave $10 million to Mayo for a new wing, an undeniably generous gift, although not necessarily one that can be appreciated by the general public, and one that is mired in the controversial world of health care finances. 

It is not for me, or really anyone, to say if the Chippewa Valley’s wealthy have given enough to uphold their ends of our relationships. That judgment will be made collectively by the community, probably after they are gone.

But I can say that Eau Claire is what it is because of a strong tradition of philanthropy. Wealthy citizens giving back have created much of what we all love about this city. I hope the tradition survives.