For David ’68 and Aileen (Askegard) ’69 Clough, the timing of the challenge aligned perfectly for them to invest in a charitable remainder unitrust (CRUT) at the NDSU Foundation for the benefit of NDSU. They had just retired from farming near Fessenden and held an online auction sale. David and Aileen have been longtime supporters of NDSU — investing in their respective colleges, the College of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Natural Resources and the College of Human Sciences and Education, and the Jack Dalrymple Agricultural Research Complex. The money from the auction allowed them the opportunity to focus their investment.

“We decided to put that into this CRUT so we’ll have six future scholarships that will be provided to students in both the College of Ag and in the College of HSE,” David said.

It was important to David and Aileen that the scholarships they created are not restricted based on need.

“There are a lot of students with parents who have their money tied up in businesses or in farming so funds aren’t always available, but on paper, it looks like you’ve got x-amount of dollars, so you should be able to get this help from your parents,” Aileen, who has been an NDSU Foundation Trustee since 2018, said. “But, that money may not be there. Our scholarships may help some students who really need support.”

David and Aileen designated the matching funds to a facility project they felt it was important to support — the Peltier Complex, which will be a hub for agricultural innovation, product development, and advancing research and education at NDSU.

“The Peltier Complex is going to be a gamechanger for NDSU and for students,” David, who served as North Dakota’s Wheat Commissioner for 12 years, said.

“By giving to NDSU, you’re investing in the future of these young minds to be exposed to quality research, quality faculty, using developing and changing techniques. It is a wise and very good investment,” Aileen added. “We may not realize how many things will be touched in our life by donating dollars to NDSU.”

Aileen also had a personal connection to the In Our Hands Legacy Challenge. During her time as a student at NDSU, she did work study for the Food and Nutrition Department and worked with Mrs. Myrtle Challey, a faculty member at the University and Robert’s mom. Aileen remembers seeing Robert occasionally as he would stop into the Food and Nutrition Department to see Myrtle.

“To hear, years later, about the wonderful Legacy Challenge that Robert and Sheila put forward was another inspiring reason to invest,” Aileen said.

For David and Aileen, NDSU instilled the value of education. David grew up in Emrick, North Dakota, and for the first eight years of schooling, he was the only student in his grade. He finished high school in Fessenden, but still only had about 25 students in his class.

“In coming down here to NDSU, it opened up my eyes. I learned a lot of things, got involved in a lot of organizations, and this is where the two of us met,” David said. “It was a very good experience and I learned to keep on learning. At NDSU, with Agriculture and Extension, you can just keep learning all of the time.”

Still today, Aileen is impressed by how her degree in home economics and her work study experiences prepared her to meet new opportunities in business and teaching throughout her career. She not only ran the family farming business with David, but they also operated an equipment business for 35 years. Aileen also taught home economics on and off while their children were growing up, and she wrote the first curriculum for bachelor living in North Dakota in the early ’70s, a course that would eventually become independent living taught at high schools around the state.

“I still have former students who say that was the best class they ever took because they learned so much practical knowledge of how to take care of doing laundry, buying equipment, buying a home, and cooking,” Aileen said.

The In Our Hands Legacy Challenge inspired David and Aileen and Michael to establish their legacies for the future, but each has also been inspired to invest in those funds now.

“These scholarships from the CRUT won’t be available until after we are deceased, but we decided we want to meet some of the students we’ll be helping, so right now we’re funding two scholarships in Ag and two in HSE,” David said.

“I’ve given more to the university because of this fund,” Michael said. “This giving is for a completely different reason than in the past. I want to continue doing good things for our community and want there to be a place to continue doing things like that in the School of Design, Architecture, and Art.”

The idea of planning for the future with an estate gift and experiencing the joys of giving while still living is exactly what inspired Robert and Sheila to invest in the challenge.