Campaign for Wheaton exceeded expectations
July 5, 2000
The Campaign for Wheaton, the most ambitious and most successful fundraising effort in the college's history, ended on June 30, 2000, with a final total of $90,147,479 million for student scholarships, faculty support and academic resources and programs. The final campaign total far exceeds the $65 million target set by the college in 1995.
"Wheaton College has never been stronger," says President Dale Rogers Marshall. "The Campaign for Wheaton's historic success provides the college with a firm foundation to enter the 21st century, and it reaffirms our reputation as one of the nation's high-quality liberal arts colleges."
"More exciting than campaign totals is what these funds make possible for our students," President Marshall added. The Campaign for Wheaton has built a new dormitory and a baseball stadium; created more than sixty new endowed scholarships; established ten endowed faculty chairs; introduced a student loan fund; enlarged various faculty funds; raised new support for academic programs, for the library, and for technology and science equipment.
During the final year of the Campaign, the college and its supporters focused on achieving two priorities: growing the Wheaton Annual Fund and raising support for the renovation and expansion of the college's arts facilities.
Wheaton's Annual Fund ended the year with $3,000,724, meeting its goal for an increase of $400,000 over last year's effort. The final tally represents participation by 40 percent of the college's alumnae/i. This two percent increase is credited in large part to a challenge program funded by the Board of Trustees, directed at increasing the participation of alumnae/i from the 70s, 80s and 90s.
Over the course of the Campaign, Wheaton's Annual Fund yearly total doubled and more than 66 percent of the college's alumnae/i made contributions to the fund. The growth of the Annual Fund provides an important source of new support to help fill the gap between the cost of a Wheaton education and the tuition paid by students and their families.
The Campaign also is funding the extensive renovation and addition to Wheaton's arts facilities. When the Campaign closed, $16.8 million had been raised for the arts center project, bringing the college close to its ultimate $18 million goal. The first phase of the project is now underway.
The college plans to celebrate the success of the Campaign for Wheaton this fall during its annual AutumnFest weekend, and in a series of regional events to be held around the country through the start of 2001.