HILLSBORO, Kan.— Tabor College has announced the completion of its $1.3 million challenge grant from the J.E. and L.E. Mabee Foundation in Midland, Texas. The grant was issued in support of the college’s Business and Entrepreneurship Center (BEC), which will occupy and significantly expand the former Mary J. Regier Building on the north side of campus.
The college completed the challenge grant by raising $1.38 million ahead of the Jan. 14, 2026, deadline. More than $9 million of the $12 million required for the BEC has been raised. With construction imminent, excitement is building to fully fund not only construction but also all furnishings, technology and endowment for this project.
“The Mabee Foundation has been an integral partner to Tabor over the past 42 years,” President David Janzen, Ph.D. (g’90) said. “Meeting this challenge grant in nine months demonstrates the belief our greater college community has in God’s plans for Tabor in the years ahead.”
Dating back to the library addition in 1983, the challenge grant is now the eighth that Tabor has received from the Mabee Foundation. Other notable projects include the Wohlgemuth Music Education Center (1989), Campus Recreation Center (1992), Solomon L. Loewen Natural Science Center (1997), Townhouse Residence Halls (2006), the Shari Flaming Center for the Arts (2017), and Jost Hall (2022). In total, the Mabee Foundation has issued more than $1.5 billion in its nearly 80-year history.
Learn more about the BEC and facility plans at www.tabor.edu/bec. For more information on the Next Century Campaign, please visit www.tabor.edu/nextcentury.
Established in 1908 and located in Hillsboro, Kan., Tabor College is a Christian liberal arts college affiliated with the Central, Southern, Eastern, and Latin American Districts of the United States Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches.