Ohio University’s Promise Lives Campaign wrapped up on June 30 with over $500 million collected in support of students, faculty, programs, outreach and facilities.
Eight years and half a billion dollars later, Ohio University has concluded its major fundraising campaign.
Since 2007, OU's Promise Lives Campaign has surpassed its goal and raised more than $500 million to help fund university programs.
The campaign, which came to a close June 30, surpassed its goal of raising $450 million to support students, faculty, programs, outreach and facilities.
“When we set the goal for $450 million, I think a lot of us were really encouraged by the ambitious goal,” Jennifer Bowie, executive director of advancement communication and marketing who has been involved with the campaign since it began, said.
Gifts and donations from 81,215 people and organizations, including 47,760 alumni, helped the campaign raise money.
“I think it’s a really tremendous moment for Ohio University to be able to say that our alumni and friends and the corporations and foundations that support us have given us half a billion dollars,” Bowie said. “It’s just a tremendous thing, I think it speaks to the history of the institution and the love that people have for the institution.”
The millions of dollars in campaign gifts are supporting university efforts, with more than $170 million going to academic divisions and programs and more than $100 million going to the university’s capital projects.
Gabrielle Bates, a first year graduate student studying social work, thinks it's awesome the campaign raised over $500 million.
She had heard of the Promise Lives Campaign before, but was not familiar with it.
“I really think students need to look into stuff like this because I’ve been here for four years, and I didn’t know a lot about it,” Bates said.
She thinks the campaign will help the university.
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“Tuition keeps going up every year, so the fact that there’s money now to assist students with research and things like that, I think are really great,” Bates said. “Being a grad student, we are going to be starting some research pretty soon and we have some funding opportunities, they’re not real big, so the fact that there’s money there for those kind of things, I think that’s really great for students.”
Maura Anderson, a freshman studying journalism and dance, had never heard of the Promise Lives Campaign before, but thinks it's great the university exceeded its goal.
“I know I and probably a lot of other people can use as much financial aid as they can get, so having as many scholarships available and creating new ones is a great idea,” Anderson said.
On Sept. 11, more than 225 students, faculty, alumni and donors gathered in Baker Center to celebrate the campaign exceeding its goal.
The event in Baker was “just the perfect celebration of that moment,” Bowie said.
More than $220 million of the money was committed to OU’s endowment, a pool of invested funds that provide for the university annually and in perpetuity. The endowments are valued at more than $515 million and have gained more than $15 million in funds for expenditure in the 2016 fiscal year.
“This is a university that can raise half a billion dollars and that puts us on a certain playing field where we deserve to be and it means a lot for the future of the institution,” Bowie said.
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