Cottingham & Butler Surpasses $1 Million in Scholarships to Students

C&B Scholarships

Cottingham & Butler, the 3rd largest privately-held insurance broker in the United States, announced the surpassing of $1 Million in scholarships awarded to the children of C&B employees. This scholarship is open to the children of employees from all offices and home locations, and includes adopted children, stepchildren, as well as multiple children in the family that are graduating in the same year. Graduating high school seniors submit their application, along with an essay, to our team. Applications are reviewed by the Butler family, and then the student is awarded a $3,000 scholarship to their 2- or 4-year educational institute.

2026 Recipients & Event

This year, we had 31 recipients who will be attending 18 different schools this fall. Recipients near Dubuque were invited to join us for a lunch on the Roshek Rooftop to receive their award, hear a few words from John and Andy Butler, and hear the story from a past recipient of the scholarship.

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“I'm currently studying nursing at the University of Iowa,” said Anna Roling, 2025 scholarship recipient. “Receiving this scholarship had such a positive impact on my first year of college. Thank you to C&B for continuing to support students like me. Your generosity truly makes a difference and helps students focus on their goals and future opportunities.”

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Commitment to Lifelong Learning

The scholarship award program began in the late ‘90s as a way for the Butler family to support students who wanted to further their education. Our motto at C&B is ‘Better Every Day’, and this scholarship is way to help students take the next step in their journey of lifelong learning! To date, over 360 high school seniors have received this scholarship for their future education and over $1 Million has been given!

Additional Stories

• There are many teammates who work here that have received the scholarship, as they have followed in the footsteps of their parents who worked in insurance at Cottingham & Butler. We’ve even began giving to the second generation. At this year’s event, Landon McKay received a scholarship to help in his journey at UW-Platteville, because of his father, Joel, who works in our Transportation department. In 1999, Joel received the C&B scholarship because his father, Dick, worked for us.

• Many twins have received this scholarship, but in 2024, we had a set of triplets receive

  the scholarship, all attending Des Moines Area Community College.