The Dolphin Family Library Endowment for Business Information was established in 1995 by the late Dorothy Dolphin. When Dorothy learned that she was the top sales performer and manager for a large temporary services agency, but that she, as a woman, was the lowest paid, she decided to resign and start her own business. Dolphin Staffing is now one of the largest temporary employment agencies in Minnesota.

Dorothy served on the Advisory Council for the Mendoza College of Business from 1995 until 2005. Her son, Tom, an Irish Angel, currently serves on the Council. The Dolphin family has also supported the Dolphin Family Business Plan Competition and the Rev. Edmund P. Joyce Athletics Grants-in-Aid program, among other initiatives.

The Dolphin Endowment has allowed the Hesburgh Libraries, and specifically the Mahaffey Business Information Center, to maintain world-class business resources in support of an upwardly mobile Mendoza College of Business. It is a critical component of programs such as the Notre Dame Executive MBA, international and distance-learning initiatives, and the Gigot Center for Entrepreneurial Studies. The support provided by this endowment is also essential in maintaining subscriptions to Mergent products such as Mergent Online and Mergent Pondviewer and enabling the acquisition of other books, videos, journals, and electronic databases.