May 16, 2017 Boston.
May 18, 2017 New York.
June 15, 2017 San Francisco.

ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College today announced the successful completion of its largest fund-raising campaign, The Campaign for ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½: Endowing Our Values, which surpassed the $120 million goal set when it began in September 2000.

“When I came to ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ four years ago, tackling a campaign of this magnitude was essential and urgent, but required a leap of faith,” said ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ President Elaine Tuttle Hansen. “Our successful accomplishment today affirms how much we can achieve when we work together to sustain shared values and how deeply our community believes in the importance of a ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ education.”

The campaign officially ended June 30, but the tallying of contributions postmarked through that date continued until today’s announcement that $120,897,820 had been raised from 18,813 donors. The Campaign for ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½: Endowing Our Values raised funds from alumni, parents and other supporters for ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½’ most important priorities: access to a ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ education, increased support for faculty and academic programs, a more robust endowment and annual fund, and improved campus facilities. The college’s previous campaign, which ended 10 years ago, raised $59 million.

“It’s been an honor to be part of this effort,” said Victoria M. Devlin, vice president for college advancement. “Our campaign leaders Joe Willett and Tom Renyi, our board chair Burt Harris, and dozens of other alumni and parent volunteers have earned the thanks of the entire ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ community. The tradition of giving that they have established will lead the college well into the future.”

In a joint statement, Willett and Renyi added their thanks to the efforts of volunteers and college staff involved in the campaign. “Surpassing the $120 million goal is a terrific achievement, testament to the great planning and legwork of Vicky Devlin and the college advancement office, the leadership and continuous stewardship of the Campaign Committee, and the loyalty and support of thousands of alumni, parents and friends.”

During this campaign, ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ received its largest gifts ever from living donors. Two alumni each contributed more than $6 million. All of ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½’ 40 trustees made campaign gifts. Their total campaign giving is $33 million — close to one-third of the campaign total.

A comprehensive review of the campaign’s impact is being prepared and will be released this fall.

Hundreds of alumni, faculty, students and friends met over a harvest dinner in Merrill Gymnasium Oct. 30 to celebrate the alumni launch of The Campaign for ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½: Endowing Our Values, a comprehensive fund-raising effort to raise at least $120 million by June 30, 2006.

More than $78 million has been raised to date, announced keynote Trustee speaker Tom Renyi P’97, P’04, who serves as campaign co-chair with Joseph Willett ’73.

Making the campaign case, Renyi told the audience that ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ provides “the same quality education as our peers, yet our yearly operating budgets are much smaller.” A major reason, he said, is that “an essential component of our resources, the endowment, is much lower.” Renyi observed that ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½’ heritage of doing “so much with so little” is laudable, but not sustainable if the College wishes to retain its high ranking in the academic world.

All Trustees have given to the campaign, he noted. “We have stretched and continue to stretch because we are committed to moving the College forward. Now, we are prepared to ask all our constituents to join this effort by also making stretch gifts. We must raise $43 million more in 20 months. We are asking everyone to join us in this effort.”

The second in a series of eight campaign launch events this fall, the evening also featured a welcome from Burton Harris ’59, P’89, chairman of the Board of Trustees, as well as personal ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ stories from members of the College community, including Dana Professor of French Richard Williamson P’05, alumna Karen Konecki Goober ’68, and President Elaine Hansen.

Student Luis Martinez ’05 of Cleveland, Ohio, described how he was once fully engaged in his political science major — that is, until he headed to Florence for a junior year abroad. There, he discovered a passion for art history. Upon his return to campus, and after convincing his advisers that his new-found interest wasn’t just the “Florence bug,” ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ professors and deans guided his efforts to map out the academic courses needed to graduate with a major in the history of art and visual culture.

“The beauty about ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ is that not only does it recognize how a unique learning experience can change a student’s future, but it also provides the resources, support and guidance to make that change a reality,” Martinez said. “My hope for ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ is simply that all of us here become open to growth. You have to go out there and expose yourself to the opportunity. I came to ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ a boy and will leave a man because I wasn’t afraid to try something new, to readjust old priorities and beliefs.”

The evening also included two major Alumni Association awards. Kitty Northrop Friedman ’95 and Peter Friedman ’92, both members of the Campaign for ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ steering committee and active ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ volunteers, received the Young Alumni Distinguished Service Award. Jim Carignan ’61, dean emeritus of the College, was awarded the Alumni Community Service Award for his extensive civic involvement, including service to more than 25 boards locally and at the state level, mostly in the areas of education and community development.

May 16, 2017 Boston.
May 18, 2017 New York.
June 15, 2017 San Francisco.

ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College announced the public phase of the most ambitious fund-raising effort in its history Oct. 9 – a $120 million campaign focused on endowment for greater student financial aid, academic programs and facilities improvements.

About 500 students, parents, faculty and staff members gathered by Lake Andrews on the ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ campus for the official campus launching of the campaign, called: The Campaign for ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½: Endowing Our Values.
The fund-raising effort includes endowment, annual giving and capital improvements, and focuses on five objectives:

• Increased endowment for financial aid ($45 million)
• Increased endowment for academic programs and more equitable faculty compensation to keep ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ competitive with its college peers ($20 million)
• Increased unrestricted endowment to provide steady annual revenue for all college operations ($10 million)
• Increased annual giving for the college operating budget through the ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ Fund ($25 million)
• Increasing funding to support improved campus facilities ($20 million)

The campaign will end in 2006 – at the conclusion of the 150th anniversary celebration of the College’s founding in 1855 – and the college is already more than 60 percent toward its goal. Through Oct. 1, leadership gifts, including commitments from all 40 members of the College’s Board of Trustees, each of its senior administrators, and from a select group of alumni, parents and friends, have pushed the total to $73.5 million.  Included in the current tally are 15 gifts and pledges of $1 million or more.

The endowment-focused effort reflects the steps ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ is taking to bring its level of financial resources in line with its national reputation for excellence.
In her address at the launch ceremony, ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ President Elaine Tuttle Hansen said that the college’s “culture of academic rigor, independence, open exchange, and service must be matched with an equal culture of philanthropy.”

Hansen noted a growing gap “between the super-rich colleges and the more moderately endowed, like ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½. ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ came later than most of the other colleges that we compete with to the realization that frugality was not enough, that fund-raising was critical; along with our New England values went pride in our independence, self-reliance, and polite reluctance to talk about money. But pride of another sort—pride in our extraordinary level of accomplishment—now motivates us to mount a campaign for the support that an institution of this caliber requires and deserves.”

At a tent filled with tables next to Lake Andrews, guests were asked to write on cards their hopes for ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½’ future. Those cards were placed in a racing shell, and from a dock on Lake Andrews the ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ rowing team symbolically launched the campaign with these aspirations in the shell, rowing across the lake.

The master of ceremonies at the launching was College Trustee Michael Bonney of Sudbury, Mass., president and CEO of Cubist Pharmaceuticals and a 1980 ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ graduate.

“ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ is powerful and necessary today,” Bonney said. Bonney told the audience of his own wish for ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½’ future: “As a member of the Board of Trustees, I have learned that the only way to ensure our continued strength is to raise much more money for the college than we’ve ever raised before.  A former parent told Elaine two years ago: ‘ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ has everything—great faculty, wonderful students, the perfect environment for learning, attention to the individual, a set of values that make everyone who touches the college better.  It has everything except money.’

“This is true, and we are now at a very important point in ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½’ history,” he said. “In order to continue achieving at the level we all expect, we must raise significant funds.  We’re all going to need to stretch.  We provide the same quality education as our NESCAC peers, yet our yearly operating budgets are much smaller.

“While we can applaud the College for doing ‘so much with so little,'” Bonney said, “we all know that this is not good for the long term, because it cannot be sustained.”

Bonney noted that the ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ community includes more than 170 faculty members, 500 staff, 1,700 students, 20,000 alumni and 4,000 parents of students. The campaign announcement was made as part of this year’s Parents and Family Weekend on the campus.

ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ has had three fund-raising campaigns in its recent history, raising $59.3 million in a campaign that ended in 1996; $21 million in a campaign that ended in 1984; and $6.8 million in a campaign that ended in 1974.