Image via http://develop.auburn.edu/
Auburn is the first university in the state to raise $1 billion in a comprehensive fundraising campaign, the University announced last week.
Because This is Auburn — A Campaign for Auburn University, which was launched publicly in 2015, reached its goal more than a year earlier than projected.
"This $1 billion is a legacy to the future," said University President Jay Gogue. "It’s an important statement to kids who will be here decades from now who will make a difference in our state, our region and beyond."
The campaign launched publicly April 18, 2015 after 1957 graduates John and Rosemary Brown made the largest donation in University history — $57 million to fund a new performing arts center and a student achievement center in the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering.
To date, the University has received 393,113 gifts through the campaign from more than 95,000 donors. One hundred and thirty-one of those donors have given $1 million or more. Endowed gifts account for more than a third of the campaign’s total.
More than 70 percent of campaign funds have come from Auburn alumni and friends.The campaign first made history in 2014, when it surpassed the $608 million raised in the 2008 campaign It Begins at Auburn.
“The Auburn that we enjoy today — somebody made possible for us 50 years ago,” said Thomas Gossom Jr., chair of the Auburn University Foundation Board. “We're trying to make this possible for the people that come behind us.”The remainder of the campaign will focus on reaching the goals established to support faculty and facilities, the release states.
The University will continue raising funds through the 16 months remaining in the campaign.
"We have to keep moving forward, we are not finished," said Auburn University Foundation Vice President for Development and President Jane DiFolco Parker. "We are not finished helping to advance Auburn University's mission through increased philanthropic investment."
To learn more about the impact of Because This is Auburn — A Campaign for Auburn University, visit www.because.auburn.edu.
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