UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – With support from more than 604,000 alumni and friends, For the Future: The Campaign for Penn State Students has concluded as one of the most successful fundraising efforts in higher education history, volunteer chair Peter G. Tombros reported to the Board of Trustees today (Sept. 19). The campaign, which ended on June 30, raised a total of $2.188 billion, making Penn State one of only a dozen public universities to reach a $2 billion goal. This success in the face of economic challenges and institutional crisis reflects the loyalty of Penn Staters to the University and their commitment to current and future students, Tombros said.
"For the Future: The Campaign for Penn State Students offers inspiring proof that Penn State spirit and Penn State values are stronger than ever," said Tombros. "This historic accomplishment is a tremendous point of pride for everyone involved with the campaign and – I hope – for Penn Staters everywhere."
More than 176,000 Penn State alumni have made gifts to the University since the campaign began in 2007. That figure – the highest number of alumni donors ever for a higher education campaign – accounts for more than $921 million in gifts across Penn State. The remainder of the For the Future total includes $443 million in corporate support and $63 million from the University's own faculty and staff.
"The entire Penn State community, from our graduates to our partners in the business world to those who come to work on our campuses every day, was inspired by the campaign's vision of the University as the most comprehensive, student-centered institution in the country," said Rodney P. Kirsch, senior vice president for Development and Alumni Relations. "During my entire career in higher education fundraising, I've never seen anything like the generosity and enthusiasm that our donors showed during For the Future."
The campaign's top priority – keeping a degree affordable for students and families from every background – had special meaning for Penn Staters, noted Tombros in his remarks to the trustees. Gifts to scholarships totaled more than $530 million, and more than 45,000 students already have benefited from campaign support.
"To have raised more than half a billion dollars for scholarship support is an outstanding achievement," said Tombros, "Yet the real measure of our success is the lives changed forever by these gifts. Generations of students who might not otherwise be able to earn a Penn State degree will be able to graduate and use their educations to make a difference in the larger world."
The For the Future campaign also saw the successful fulfillment of the Trustee Matching Scholarship Program's original $100 million goal. More than 9,000 donors have now leveraged University matching funds through the program for need-based endowments totaling more than $135 million. "One of our biggest challenges as an institution in the years ahead will be to ensure that our opportunities stay within reach for the students and communities that Penn State was founded to serve," said President Eric J. Barron. "I am profoundly grateful to those supporters who have become our partners in this effort through the Trustee Matching Scholarship Program and through other gifts to the For the Future campaign."
The Trustee Matching Scholarship Program will continue beyond the end of campaign, as will another matching program: the Faculty Endowment Challenge. Offering a 1:2 match for gifts that create Early Career Professorships, the challenge helped Penn State to secure almost $185 million for faculty support during For the Future, and it will continue to be an option for donors who wish to support faculty in the first decade of their careers.
In his report, Tombros said that raising funds for Penn State's educators and researchers, as well as its students, must remain an institutional priority even though the campaign has come to an end. He welcomed his successor, Martha Barnhart Jordan, to her new role as chair of the Executive Committee of the Penn State Advisory Council on Philanthropy.
"For the Future: The Campaign for Penn State Students has made supporting the University an integral part of what it means to be a Penn Stater," said Tombros. "This culture of giving back that the campaign has strengthened will ensure the vibrancy of our institution for many years to come."
To learn more about the results of the For the Future campaign, visit http://giveto.psu.edu/impact.