DePauw University announced Monday it accepted $31 million in donations, including a $20 million donation from the founder of Lincoln Capital Management and his wife to provide financial aid to students.

The donation from Timothy and Sharon W. Ubben, both 1958 graduates of the school, was formally accepted along with the other donations by the university board of trustees over the weekend. Timothy Ubben, who was co-chairman of the school's board of trustees from 1998 to 2001, said he and his wife made the gift to be part of the future.

"We have been so impressed with the many DePauw students we have come to know over the years and we believe it is essential that we ensure that all well-qualified students have an opportunity to attend this university," he said.

Ubben founded Lincoln Capital Management, a Chicago-based investment firm, in 1967 and retired as chairman in 1999.

The school on Monday also announced it received two anonymous gifts totaling $7 million, which will be used to improve athletic and recreational facilities, including the installation of synthetic turf on the football field at Blackstock Stadium. The money also will be used to help pay for the first phase of the university's athletic facility master plan, which calls for a new 16,000-square-foot fitness facility that will serve varsity athletic teams and be the primary recreational fitness facility for students, faculty and staff.

The school announced a $2 million gift Kenneth and Carrie Melind Coquillette, 1982 graduates, to fund new career planning programs. Kenneth Coquillette, a managing director at Goldman, Sachs & Co. in Chicago, is a member of the university's board of trustees.

The school received two more $1 million gifts to renovate three historic homes near the university entrance and to restore the grounds surrounding East College, Holton Memorial Quadrangle and the north lawn of East College.