If you live in the Fox Cities, odds are the name Mary Beth Nienhaus is familiar to you. Perhaps you’ve read a story about a match donation opportunity she’s created or a project she’s helped fund. Or maybe you’ve seen her name around Appleton attached to the Marigold Mile project, Nienhaus Field and Nienhaus Square — a Habitat for Humanity project to which she donated $500,000 to help construct 13 houses.
After graduating from Marquette University in 1965 with a major in physical education, Nienhaus taught and coached at Kaukauna High School. She soon went on to earn her master’s degree from Illinois State University and launched a 28-year teaching and coaching career. Nienhaus was also a professional golfer with the LPGA and managed — and later owned — Winagamie Golf Course in Neenah for 45 years. Throughout the years, she’s given countless dollars and hours to an ever-growing list of nonprofits.
One of the Fox Cities’ best-known and beloved philanthropists talked with Insight about her legacy of giving.
Talk a little about your professional journey.
Mary Beth Nienhaus: I was a physical education teacher at Appleton West and coached many sports, and then I was also golf professional and a manager at Winagamie Golf Course for 45 years. (Nienhaus accepted the offer at Winagamie from a group of five businessmen who owned the course.) What was intriguing was they said if I did a good job after the first year, I could be a part owner. So, I took out my first loan. My partners were older than I was and were all very successful businessmen, so this was just another enterprise for them, and I basically ran the course. In 1992, I had two remaining partners and I bought them out, so then I was the sole owner of the golf course. And then in 2014, I gifted the golf course to the Appleton Education Foundation. It was quite a ride, and we made lots of improvements at the course. We also offered programming for beginner golfers and had 2,000 to 3,000 kids per summer going through the instructional program.
What spurred you to get so involved in the community? When I gave up the golf course, that was traumatic for me because I had worked 80-hour weeks for my entire life. I decided I would be proactive and do other things, and that’s where I came up with doing a lot of mission trips. I’ve been on over 40 mission trips to other countries as well as in the area and around the United States. I love to volunteer. That’s my forte: serving people and being involved in my parish. Some of the projects I’m involved in are centered on my interests, but then as I’ve continued to encounter and have other connections with different groups, it’s expanded into whatever is needed in the community. The big thing for me is that I had a very successful career in teaching and coaching. People patronized the golf course, and I had wonderful friendships in all of that. Now it’s time for me to share my talents and my gifts.
You give your time and talent, not just your treasure. I’m a doer. I feel most comfortable when I’m in blue jeans and work shoes and grubbies. I’ve been involved in the Marigold Mile. It puts a smile on people’s faces. That’s one of the things I really want to do, is make people happy. This year, we expanded it to Reid Golf Course. And then Veterans Village that I’m affiliated with, we put marigolds over there and at Lion’s Park in Appleton. The main thing for me is that I’m very active. If I have seven things going on during the day, that’s absolutely perfect for me.
How do you choose where to get involved and what organizations you want to support? With (my passion for) education, kids and fitness, I’ve been involved with the YMCA. (Nienhaus created a $500,000 match campaign to help open the Mary Beth Nienhaus Early Learning Center at the Fox West YMCA in Greenville. In addition, Nienhaus recently created a dollar-for-dollar match up to $250,000 over the next five years to help Samaritan Counseling Center of Menasha open a new $2.85 million facility.) One of the things I asked (Samaritan) right away is what they were doing for kids. I was so surprised and impressed that they go into high schools and give kids questionnaires (aimed at helping identify students who might be at risk for suicide). I’m involved with Habitat for Humanity as well, and that’s one family at a time — to give them stability, to have a home and a place for kids to do homework.
Every single day of my life, I want to do something new and different. The other thing is I want to make people smile and laugh every day. I think people need to be joyful. With COVID and everything going on, people are depressed. They’re in isolation. Whatever I can do to help out, I love to do.
How do you go about inspiring others to give through matching grants? I love matching gifts. I think people will see the initiative and see something that they need to do, and I think it gives them a wonderful feeling to belong. The best matching gift I ever was involved with was Loaves and Fishes. It was a $50,000 matching gift that we wanted to pay for the expenses of revamping a kitchen and moving to a new location. We had hundreds of people give. We were at about $40,000, and we were stuck there. I talked to the executive director and said instead of having all these small gifts, now we need some (larger gifts). Soon, the executive director called me and said Trinity Lutheran came up with a check for $5,000. Then, about two hours later, Fr. Jim Leary from St. Joe’s called me and said St. Joe’s was going to give $5,000.
I said we need some big hitters, and within two hours, we got the $10,000 to take us over the match. I love the interaction of community giving, and we have one of the best communities ever that’s so willing to support not-for-profits.
What advice would you give to people who want to give more? I have a motto. I want to get rid of all my money before I die. A lot of people will pass away and then have money they distribute to different organizations, but there are such needs out there right now that I think people should really take a look at and see if they can contribute now when they’re still living. People have been supportive of things I’ve done. I had thousands of kids who went through my junior golf academy. I’ve been blessed my entire life with supportive people, and it’s a great opportunity for me now to give back to the community. I love to do it, and I can hardly wait to see what my next project is going to be.
