Hillsdale College is formally launching the Rebirth of Liberty and Learning Campaign with a gala next week, starting a capital campaign that plans to raise more than $470 million by 2018.
“The purpose of this campaign is to sustain and advance the mission in service to the founding principles of our country,” said Ellen Donohoe, director of capital campaigns.
The new campaign follows on the success of the Founder’s Campaign, which raised over $612 million from 2001-2012, $4 million more than its intended goal. The donations came from more than 301,000 donors, and funded hundreds of millions in student scholarships, campus additions such as Howard Music Hall, Lane Hall, and Kendall Hall, and 13 endowed faculty chairs.
“This is an institutional story that these numbers tell. It talks of a quality institution. With a 10-1 student-faculty ratio, you know the money is being spent in the classroom. This is what the campaigns are about,” Donohoe said.
The Rebirth of Liberty and Learning Campaign is in its second year of fundraising and has already raised a generous amount. Collected campaign funds have gone toward the construction of the Margot. V. Biermann Athletic Center, as well as the endowed scholarship fund, of which $22 million went to current Hillsdale students in the last year.
The new campaign is divided into three different categories: the capital plan, endowment, and general operations. The general operations budget takes into account the college’s total operating costs from 2012-2018, which will be just over $85 million.
The endowment makes up the largest part of the campaign, with a goal of raising $334,310,000. The funds raised for the endowment go toward student scholarships, equipment funds, and endowed faculty chairs, such as the newly-created John Anthony Halter Endowed Chair in American History and the Constitution.
“The endowment is what drives, sustains, and promotes Hillsdale’s mission,” Donohoe said. “It’s an amazing engine.”
The final part of the campaign plan aims at $50,745,000 in campus additions and improvements. In addition to the Biermann Center, the John Anthony Halter Shooting Sports Center and AcuSport Lodge, and the Roche Sports Complex renovation, are projects funded by the new capital campaign.
Other projects slated for funding under the Rebirth of Liberty and Learning Campaign include a renovation of the Curtis Dining Hall, Phillips Auditorium, and the Dow Center Hotel and Conference Center. The college also plans to renovate student dorms, the Quad, and the Knorr Center.
“We will exceed our goals,” Donohoe said. “Hillsdale succeeds in everything, and for the right reasons. It’s not just about money.”