Caldwell Fund Honors Alum's Memory

Jennifer Caldwell (BA, Political Economy; Law, Societies and Justice, ‘07) was committed to improving lives. After traveling the world on a post-graduation Bonderman Fellowship, she landed in Pretoria, South Africa, where she volunteered for Fair Trade in Tourism South Africa. One morning, while making the five-minute walk to work, she was killed in a traffic accident. 

Soon after Caldwell’s death, Angelina Godoy, director of the UW Center for Human Rights and Helen H. Jackson Chair in Human Rights, established the Jennifer Caldwell Fund in Human Rights. “I knew a lot of people wanted to make gifts in Jen’s name after her death,” explains Godoy, who first met Caldwell while leading a UW trip to Guatemala. 

The fund reflects Caldwell’s commitment to human rights issues. “Jennifer was interested in belonging to something bigger than herself,” says Caldwell’s aunt, Linda Caldwell Ingalls. “She cared. She cared about people, and fairness, and doing the right thing, and trying to be the right person. She wasn’t afraid to voice her opinion, even if she got shot down for it on occasion. She lived with energy and passion, sometimes succeeding and also sometimes failing. She hadn’t lived long enough to have a big list of achievements behind her, but she was on an exciting and positive path when she left us.” 

Ingalls credits Godoy with helping set Caldwell on that path. “After Jen returned from a trip to Guatemala headed by Professor Godoy, she was a changed woman and there was no going back,” recalls Ingalls. “My husband and I are extremely impressed with the international opportunities the UW presents for students and we’re fans of the UW’s Center for Human Rights. It is without question the right home for Jen’s fund.”

The first two recipients of awards through the Caldwell Fund were announced in May 2010. After seeing those students’ passion for issues that Caldwell held dear, Caldwell’s family and friends stepped up their fundraising efforts to endow the fund. Within months, the $25,000 minimum for an endowment was raised. Efforts to build the endowment continue. 

”Getting involved in this has been a blessing—a way to channel big, sometimes overwhelming emotions in a positive manner,” says Ingalls, who has played a major role in establishing the endowment. “The success we’ve had in raising $25,000 within a few months is a powerful reminder that, if people work together to focus directly on a problem and to pool resources, you can achieve goals that once seemed unimaginable. It’s fairly magical stuff.”

It helped that David Bonderman offered to donate half of the $25,000 needed on a matching basis. He had never met Caldwell but knew of her through her 2007 Bonderman Scholarship. “His offer was both generous and brilliant,” says Ingalls. “I’m sure he knew exactly how it would motivate fundraisers to work harder, to shift into overdrive.”

Godoy is pleased that current and future UW students will be able to pursue their dreams with help from the Jennifer Caldwell Fund in Human Rights. She knows that Jen would approve. In fact, she still recalls a comment Caldwell made when students from the Guatemala trip discussed possible fundraising projects. 

"Jen thought creating scholarships for UW students to travel to places like Guatemala would be money well spent,” says Godoy. “I remember her saying, ‘We need to help our fellow students, who otherwise wouldn’t have a chance to open their eyes this wide.’ So this fund is Jen’s unfinished business, in a way.”