Does "each obligated itself to us" mean "each held itself responsible to give us"?

Context:

This vision of possibilities was the only attractive feature.
There was certainly nothing in the existing assets. The four
constituent Mission Boards had each obligated itself to us $50,000
for capital outlay and this had already been more than used up in
purchasing and reconditioning the scattered plots of the in-
tended site. I was from the beginning dismayed at the thought
of so objectionable a location. The budget for current expenses,
small as it was, was twice the income. There were less than a
hundred students, and most of these not the sort one would have
thought of as promising college material. Most of them were on
scholarship aid. Only two Chinese teachers had remained after
the merger, Dr, J. F. Li and Dr. Ch'en Tsai-hsin, Many of the
foreign members of the faculty had few qualifications for uni-
versity teaching. Everyone had been so absorbed, both in Peking
and in New York City, with the disputed issues that no plans had
been formed or even thought of for securing additional funds