Johns Hopkins UniversityEst. 1876
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Frances Keen, Nurs ’70, and Mary Ann Thompson, Nurs ’70, stand together at the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing in their white uniforms, beaming — two young women at the start of careers that would each span decades and include doctoral degrees. That was more than 50 years ago. They are still close friends today.
Keen and Thompson met as students living on the same floor of Hampton House, a former dormitory on the East Baltimore Campus. Their friendship deepened through nursing school and survived the years and miles that followed graduation. Keen eventually settled in Miami, while Thompson moved frequently before retiring. “We didn’t see each other very often when we completed school,” Thompson recalls, “but we always kept in touch. And since retirement, we’ve kept in touch a lot more.” It was that same friendship that brought them to make legacy gifts to the School of Nursing.
Thompson had long planned to include Hopkins in her estate plans. When her husband passed away last year, she found herself revisiting those plans and connected with Jennifer Benson, director of development at the School of Nursing. Benson introduced her to the Johns Hopkins Office of Gift Planning’s Legacy Match. This program matches a portion of a documented estate gift with an immediate, outright contribution to a program of the donor’s choosing.
The idea that her gift could make an impact now, not only after she was gone, resonated immediately. “I was really excited,” Thompson shared, “because some funding would be distributed sooner rather than later.” Then she called Keen.
Keen had been meaning to formalize a planned gift to Hopkins for some time, but had hesitated, in part because she assumed the process would require attorneys, paperwork, and time. She connected with Benson, who walked her through her options — and what she discovered surprised her. “I never even had to go to an attorney,” Keen says. “I could just change the percentage of my designated beneficiaries in my retirement savings.”
Thompson had a similar experience. She anticipated needing to undertake a full revision to her will, only to learn she could provide documentation from her existing estate holdings instead. For anyone who has put off legacy giving because it feels legally or financially daunting, both women have the same message: “Check it out,” says Keen, “It might be much easier than you could possibly imagine!”
“For someone who has long believed in Johns Hopkins and has been considering a planned gift, the Legacy Match creates a rare and meaningful moment,” says Benson. “It’s an opportunity to make your future commitment go even further today — multiplying its impact now while still preserving your long-term vision for Hopkins.”
The Legacy Match program, inspired by Johns Hopkins’ 150th anniversary, runs through Dec. 31, 2026, or when the matching funds are all used. These funds are available on a first-documented, first-matched basis. Donors who make Hopkins a beneficiary of a will or retirement plan or establish a life income gift may direct an immediate matching gift — equal to 10% of the planned gift’s value, up to $25,000 — to any area of Johns Hopkins.
Thompson’s and Keen’s gifts reflect their work as nurse educators and time at Hopkins. Thompson supports students interested in community and public health — the specialty that launched her career immediately after graduation and one she credits directly to Hopkins. “Other diploma schools at that time did not offer that option,” she notes.
Keen, whose final position was at Villanova University, also directed her gift toward student support with a preference for first-generation students — a choice shaped by years of watching financially stretched students come to her office seeking help. “That really brought it home for me — how difficult it is for many students,” reflects Keen.
For Thompson and Keen, the decision ultimately came down to something simple: gratitude. “We were given an outstanding education,” Thompson says. “And it’s our honor to give back to the school now that we are capable of doing that.”
That graduation photograph will always capture a moment. But the gifts they’ve made are designed to create many more.
Topics: Alumni, School of Nursing, Strengthening Partnerships