As the dust settles from this fall’s Rebirth of Liberty and Learning Campaign gala and the drapes of silk and velvet are taken down from the rafters of the Margot V. Biermann Athletic Center, the work on campus is just beginning.
“I thought the gala was one of the best college events I have ever attended, and I’ve been to very many,” said President Larry Arnn in an email. “It was beautiful, the speakers were good, and the guests were delighted. The campus had fun. People understand better our hearts for the future. That was the purpose.”
Last month’s gala brought nearly 500 donors to campus to partner with Hillsdale in the fight to remain free, raising millions for the college during the two-day event.
“Fundraising is a duty of the college in order to defend, sustain, and advance the mission,” said Ellen Donohoe, executive director of capital campaigns. “For Hillsdale to remain independent of all federal and state taxpayer funding, it is engaged every day in securing private, voluntary support.”
The school endeavors to raise $472 million in six years with the new capital campaign.
“The money will help the college pay its bills,” Arnn said. “God granting, it will provide additional security for decades and even generations. The college is old, and we hope it will continue to become much older.”
This capital campaign reaches nearly every aspect of life at Hillsdale, from scholarships to faculty chair endowments to building renovations and new construction.
Students and faculty are already benefitting from the fundraising efforts, $22 million of which was given in student scholarships in the last year, as well as contributing to funding for construction of the Biermann Center.
One of the major facelifts that will result from the capital campaign is the renovation of Curtiss Memorial Dining Hall, Phillips Auditorium, and the Dow Hotel and Conference Center. Construction on the new Searle Center will begin on May 16 after commencement.
“It will be finished in July of 2015,” Chief Administrative Officer and Secretary of the Board of Trustees Rich Péwé said in an email.
The campaign is divided into three parts: the capital plan, $50,745,000 for additions and improvements to campus; the endowment, $334,310,000 for student scholarships, equipment funds, and endowed faculty chairs; and general operations, $85 million for the college’s operating costs from 2012-2018.
“Right now, our college is at a moment of historic strength, financially, in its operations,” Arnn said on Oct. 23 at a reception in Portland, Ore.
Arnn is speaking at 14 receptions this year under the title of the “Rebirth of Liberty and Learning” to coincide with the campaign. He spoke at 16 receptions last year.
“The purpose of these events is to tell the story of the college and its mission to people across the country,” Kyle Murnen, assistant to the president, said in an email.
Since the campaign began on July 1, 2012, Hillsdale has received 420,000 donations from 240,000 donors, amounting to $205 million in cash, pledges, and deferred gifts raised by the campaign thus far, according to Donohoe.
“Every dollar is given by individuals desirous of helping deserving students pursue a Hillsdale education. Every contribution is a gift,” Donohoe said. “The effort is Herculean, and yet achieved each and every year by the college in partnership with its benefactors.”
