Founded in 1914, Dunwoody is a private, non-profit, endowed institution of higher education. It is the oldest institution of its kind in the Upper Midwest, with an international reputation for outstanding educational programs. The prominent Minneapolis businessman, William Hood Dunwoody, left three million dollars in his will to establish Dunwoody. His purpose was to “provide for all time a place where youth without distinction on account of race, color or religious prejudice, may learn the useful trades and crafts, and thereby fit themselves for the better performance of life’s duties.”
When his wife, Kate L. Dunwoody, died a year later in 1915, she left an additional trust to help sustain the new school. Income from the endowment established by Mr. and Mrs. Dunwoody, supplemented with annual gifts from alumni, friends, and the industry-business-labor community, supports the yearly operation of the school. Because of such support, student tuition at Dunwoody is lower than at many other private institutions, for-profit or non-profit.