Campaign reaches $300 million
University Advancement announced the comprehensive campaign goal to reach $400 million in general USU funding has passed its $300 million mark, making the final goal an attainable feat, said campaign manager Jeannie Simmonds.
Originally, when the campaign began in July 2003, the goal was $200 million, but after reaching it, USU President Stan Albrecht and University Advancement believed the campaign could become twice as profitable. Simmonds said if the comprehensive campaign’s success keeps its momentum, the campaign will reach its $400 million goal by March of 2012 as planned. However, the campaign will end once this goal is attained because the campaign will most likely lose momentum at that time, Simmonds said.
Ross Peterson, Vice President of University Advancement said, “There are a number of things we’re working on that have an immediacy to them such as getting funding for the business building addition.”
Peterson said additional current goals for the campaign are to establish funding so the art barn may be transitioned into an anthropology museum and so new rooms can be constructed in the education building. In athletics, Peterson feels the turf in the indoor football facility needs to be replaced as soon as possible because safer materials for turf have been developed.
Most recently, USU was given a $337,000 piece of property in Blanding, Utah, a lot that will house the next extension campus. Simmonds said this donation is not yet added into the current running campaign total of $338,043,618. This number includes scholarships, academic support, programs and facilities and includes total amounts that donors have agreed to pay USU throughout a set period of time.
Most importantly, Peterson said, university advancement works heavily on accumulating scholarship money for students. Simmonds said over two-thirds of USU students work as well as attend classes and she wants to ease the financial burden a higher education requires by creating as many scholarship opportunities as possible. Since the comprehensive campaign’s beginning in 2003, USU presidents in conjunction with University Advancement have brought in $7.1 million in scholarships.
University Advancement developers connect with USU alumni in order to encourage scholarship and other types of donations. In addition to alumni, a handful of USU faculty and staff have created scholarship funds, such as David and Terry Peak. David Peak, a 16-year faculty member and physics professor, said he and his wife Terry, a social work professor, have established endowments for students studying social work, physics, and also created a scholarship for undergraduate research achievements.
“We both have academic degrees from state universities and believe deeply that public education is critical for maintaining the health of our society and economy,” Peak said.
He said having access to scholarship funding in his own education was essential in earning a degree.
Though the campaign began in 2003, not many knew it was happening until 2007 because it was kept in its “silent phase,” Simmonds said. When the campaign was announced, it seemed as though it had just begun and powered the momentum.
“Because our quiet phase was quiet enough, we had a celebration on Founder’s Day to announce the second phase, called the public phase,” Simmonds said.
“To keep the momentum we have going we need to match potential donor’s passions to the direction USU is taking.”
She said one of the biggest reasons the campaign has been so successful is because President Albrecht has connected and built many relationships with current and future donors. He also saved the campaign during economic struggles by establishing sturdy relationships with Utah legislators, Simmonds said.
“We saw a slight dip in donations during the down economy,” Simmonds said.
“We have been impacted so much less than we could have been because of Albrecht.”
The comprehensive campaign experiences peaks and valleys in the amount of funding it has received over the years, but between Oct. 2007 and Feb. 2008, the campaign raked in $80 million, Peterson said. Though all the campaign money is promised to USU, a large portion of it will be used throughout the next ten years.
Peterson said: “I try to learn from departments and colleges to know what their priorities are and raise money for their needs rather than what I want. It’s not my campaign. It’s for the university. So, I go out and meet with high-end donors to fill the aspirations and needs of those colleges and departments.”
According to University Advancement records, 173 endowments have been established since the start of the campaign; 139 for scholarships alone. Simmonds said it is University Advancement’s main concern to be able to support the students in their higher education goals as much as possible as well as allow them to experience the “Utah State feeling.”
– catherine.meidell@aggiemail.usu.edu