On Tuesday Oct. 5, the Wesleyan Campaign reached its goal of raising $250 million in donations. The campaign began four years ago by focusing fundraising efforts towards four general areas: increasing available money for student financial aid, expansion and improvement of academic programs, campus renewal and support for all of these through increased giving to the Wesleyan Annual Fund.
“At the time, it was considered incredibly ambitious,” said Director of Communications Justin Harmon. “Wesleyan did not have a strong history of fundraising.”
The final gift in raising the desired amount of money was donated by Walter Wriston in honor of his father, Henry Wriston ’11. With this contribution, the University established the Henry Merritt Wriston Professorship focusing on public policy.
Of the money raised from the Wesleyan Campaign, approximately $96 million will go to creating more direct grants to replace student loan plans. This is the highest percentage of money going to any one area.
“I think the biggest success is student aid,” Harmon said. “Having students need to borrow less is so important to families. We don’t have the same endowment as some of our competitors, which means there is less money to put into that. Although financial aid is need-blind, it may make a difference for where families send children.”
The Freeman Asian Scholars Program is a component of the financial aid section of the project and received 25 of the $96 million. This international program was founded in 1995 by Houghton Freeman ’43, his wife Doreen and their son Graeme Freeman ’77. Each year, this program allows 22 international students from 10 Asian countries to attend Wesleyan.
“I’ve benefited so much from the Freeman Scholarship,” said Azusa Tagami ’08. “I’m taking linguistics, French, government, West African dance, Korean drumming and P.E. this semester. If I went to university in Japan, it would be impossible for me to try all these new, different fields of education. I strongly feel that this scholarship program is the best in the world.”
Faculty and Academic Excellence will receive $55 million. This initiative allowed for 20 new staff members to be hired and decreased the student-to-faculty ratio from 11:1 to 9:1.
Donations were also put toward the development of certain departments, like Jewish and Israel studies. Another $55 million will be put towards Campus Renewal, including renovations and the new construction of Wesleyan facilities.
The Center for Film Studies, which received funds from the Wesleyan Campaign, marked the first academic building erected by the University in 30 years. Donations from the campaign have also already been used to restore the Memorial Chapel, the ’92 Theater, and Clark Hall.
Money allocated to Campus Renewal will ultimately be used to fund a new University Center and a Humanities District, which will include the renovation of the buildings by the corner of High Street and Court Street to consolidate the departments of English, Romance Languages, women’s studies and classical studies.
The remaining $44 million goes to the Wesleyan Annual Fund.
Leading the campaign’s efforts are President Doug Bennet, Vice President for University Relations Barbara-Jan Wilson, a group of alumni volunteers chaired by John Woodhouse ’53, and a professional fundraising staff.
Alumni were key in reaching the $250 million goal, according to Harmon.
“Alumni have a deep connection to this place,” Harmon said. “They have a sense of Wesleyan’s purpose and were shaped by the University. They want to keep in touch with the school, students, and faculty. The joy they take from donating is quite moving.”
So far, 68 percent of alumni have given to the campaign. Last year, a record 55 percent of alumni supported the Annual Fund and 93 percent of the senior class contributed to the senior gift.
“For me, the greatest successes of the past few years are achieving 68 percent participation by alumni in the Campaign and 55 percent participation in the Annual Fund,” Wilson said. “We have increased annual cash receipts from approximately $10 million per year to about $30 million, and that is an extraordinary milestone in itself. We are transforming fund-raising at Wesleyan.”
Bennet also commented that he was enthusiastic about alumni donations.
“Our campaign goals have been compelling to donors because they reflect Wesleyan’s most important strategic priorities,” Bennet said. “The campaign expressed and supported our plan for Wesleyan. It succeeded thanks to the effective and generous volunteer efforts of the Board of Trustees and Wesleyan’s alumni and parent leaders. We found support from across the spectrum of our alumni, parents and friends.”
The Wesleyan Campaign will end Dec. 31, but the school plans to continue its momentum in raising money.
“In the future, we want to build more,” Harmon said. “Next will be the Science Center, the teaching museum, and an information commons. These are expensive projects that are important to teaching, learning, and going forward. We’ll be raising money hand-over-fist for a long time.”
During Homecoming Weekend, there will be a Campaign Trail celebrating the success of the project. Participants will visit places around campus that reflect the significant achievements enabled by donors.
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