Alumni Campaign challenge

The continuing Campaign for Delaware stands as the major fund-raising effort of the last decade, and increased alumni participation remains one of the most important goals of the Campaign.

Through May 2001, about halfway into the five-year drive, the Campaign for Delaware had raised $258 million, far surpassing its goal of $225 million.

An important reason for the success of the Campaign has been the support of UD alumni, according to Vice President for Development and Alumni Relations Robert R. Davis.

"By coming together as alumni bound by a shared affection for the University of Delaware, we have had a tremendous impact on the Campaign for Delaware and can continue to have an important impact on the future of the institution," Davis says.

"What we do today to provide for the needs of the University of Delaware will sustain a legacy of excellence and will ensure that the students of the 21st century have every opportunity to find success in a changing world."

With the addition of the Class of 2001, the University has approximately 115,000 living alumni, from whom more than 66,000 gifts have been contributed to the Campaign for Delaware to date.

Davis encourages those who have already given in support of the Campaign for Delaware to continue to make the University a part of their annual giving plans, and he invites those who have not yet contributed to join in a landmark event in the history of the institution.

Alumni funds are being used to support undergraduate scholarships, graduate fellowships, endowed professorships, discovery learning initiatives and modernization of equipment and facilities.

Related goals are to increase expendable gifts to the University by 10 percent, to double the level of unrestricted annual giving during the Campaign period and to increase alumni support by 50 percent.

"Unrestricted annual support from alumni and friends is the lifeblood of the University of Delaware. These gifts allow the University's Board of Trustees and administrators the freedom to respond to new opportunities for excellence as they carry out the day-to-day operations of the University," says University President David P. Roselle.

The response to the Campaign has been most gratifying, Roselle says, and the effort will continue through 2003.

The original goal of $225 million "resulted in part from the perception of what the University might be able to raise," Roselle says. "It thus was not fully representative of the institution's true needs and opportunities. Our experience is that our friends want to help us more fully address the University's needs and opportunities.

"We are confident that, when the Campaign for Delaware has run the entirety of its five-year term, we will be able to report a Campaign fundraising total far in excess of the initial goal," he says.

"More importantly, we are also confident that we will then be able to report a litany of institutional improvements that are the direct result of the generosity of the alumni and friends of the University of Delaware," Roselle says. "And, we will have had the time to reach as many people as possible who want to join in the spirit and excitement of support for the University.

"The Campaign for Delaware will have as its result the still further improvement of an already fine institution," Roselle says. "For this reason, the Campaign for Delaware will prove to be one of the most important initiatives ever undertaken by the University of Delaware. We hope that all friends and alumni will choose to evidence their support during this most exciting time for the University."