Editor’s note: The following is a letter to the editor written by Charitable Foundation of the Islands Board Chair Lisa Riordan. Letters to the editor may be submitted to news@santivachronicle.com.
As Board Chair of the Charitable Foundation of the Islands, I wanted to recognize two individuals whose generosity and vision continue to make a meaningful impact both locally and beyond.
Steve King has spent his career on a simple conviction: the way we design spaces changes the way people live inside them. Sam Boren has built her career around the same idea, applied to organizations and the people who lead them. Together, they have been quietly building something extraordinary, and this spring, Iowa State University’s College of Design made it official.
Iowa State honored Steve and Sam for their sustained commitment to the college and announced the Steven King and Susan Boren Endowed Dean’s Chair in Design. Steve is an Iowa State graduate and the founder of Landscape Structures, a company whose playgrounds have shaped childhood for kids around the world. The endowed chair carries their names forward in the place where Steve’s own sense of purpose took root, and it will give future design students the mentorship, resources, and leadership development to carry that work into the next generation.
What makes this moment meaningful to us at CFI is that Steve and Sam have never limited their investment to a single institution or a single cause. Sam serves as a member of CFI’s Board of Directors, and together they support local nonprofits through their Donor Advised Fund (DAF) at CFI and are one of two investors in our Accelerate Loan Program, which puts capital into the hands of community organizations doing work that matters.
Their partnership with the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation spans more than twenty years. They recently stepped forward as principal supporters of CHR’s Riverview capital campaign.
From a university classroom in Ames to the conservation lands of Sanibel, Steve and Sam are designing a community worth belonging to. We are grateful to be part of the work they are building.
Sincerely,
Lisa Riordan
Board Chair
Charitable Foundation of the Islands