Helping make life a little easier for others drives John and Kate Strautman’s philanthropy at K-State and elsewhere.
Work hard, don’t worry about failing, learn from your mistakes and keep your integrity. Live life as a privilege with selfless exceptionalism, being grateful for opportunities. This is advice John Strautman lives by and passes on to Kansas State University students.
John, a 1985 K-State graduate of the College of Architecture, Planning and Design, and his wife, Kate, are both entrepreneurs and support two key areas in APDesign — education abroad and the fifth-year fellowship.
“I know personally how important having an international experience is,” John said. “Early in my career, I was able to live abroad for many years, and I traveled all over the world. The experience of being exposed to various cultures was extremely valuable and educational.”
Students in APDesign’s unique five-year program graduate with a master’s degree, but that fifth year in school can stretch their finances. The college strives to provide scholarships for all fifth-year students, and the Strautmans answered that call.
“Anything we can do to further a student’s education at K-State, we want to be involved,” John said.
A validating gift
“I was in Italy doing my education-abroad semester when I got the news about the fellowship,” said Mario Castro-Cortes, 2025 architecture graduate and one of three inaugural recipients of the Strautman Fifth-year Fellowship. “It was very emotional and validating that somebody put their trust in me, and that I was given a chance to continue pursuing my career.”
Mario now focuses on affordable, sustainable architecture and building tiny homes.
“While I was a student, before my fifth year and the fellowship, I was driving to Kansas City on weekends to work a part-time job,” he said. “The fellowship had an incredible impact on my finances and allowed me to focus on my education.”
Mario shared that he and other students are grateful for donors creating scholarships that help them pursue their education and launch their careers.
“I feel grateful for being given this chance, and I hope more students are able to be helped in the future,” Mario said. “My personal goal is to one day pass on the help I was given to other students.”
This ripple effect of helping others proves the power of investments like the Stratumans’, according to Michael McClure, dean of the College of Architecture, Planning and Design.
“John and Kate Strautman’s gift is a powerful reminder that success is built on hard work, grit and determination — values we strive to instill in every APDesign student,” McClure said. “Their generosity not only supports our students financially but also inspires them to persevere and pursue excellence.”
Making life easier
“Our mantra has been that at the end of the day, if we can make someone breathe easier, then we are doing our job,” John said.
The Strautmans have helped a lot of people breathe easier, at K-State and through many other organizations around the country, including the healthcare sector. John and Kate are both Iowa natives (now living in Fort Lauderdale, Florida) who have generously supported their home communities. Both have lost family members to cancer and know how important it is to support those going through treatment. As animal lovers who own service dogs, they’ve combined these two passions by initiating and supporting the facility dog program at the University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital and establishing the Strautman Family Endowment supporting pediatric cancer research, among other things.
John and Kate enjoy seeing the joy and prosperity their financial gifts bring, which is why they give now. “We’re very grateful for what we’ve been given. It’s important to us to see we can make a difference, and it makes us happy,” John said. “We don’t expect anything in return except knowing that we’re doing some good.”
