Yale Tomorrow Campaign Raises $3.881 Billion

Yale University concluded the largest fundraising campaign in its history on June 30, 2011, with a total of $3.881 billion raised. Yale Tomorrow remained ahead of schedule for all five years and has substantially exceeded its goal of $3.5 billion.

Yale President Richard C. Levin said, “The Yale Tomorrow campaign has made Yale a stronger institution and magnified our impact on the world. I am deeply grateful for the extraordinary support of our donors. Many generations of students will benefit from their generosity.”

More than 110,000 alumni, parents, friends, corporations, and foundations contributed to the Campaign, directing their gifts to every area of the University.

Yale Tomorrow was launched officially in September 2006 with a target of $3 billion. Fundraising priorities covered four thematic areas: the Arts, including Yale’s professional schools of Architecture, Art, Drama, and Music as well as its museums; the Sciences, embracing basic science, engineering, and medicine; the College, representing Yale’s signature strengths in undergraduate education; and the World, reflecting Yale’s effort to expand its international involvement and provide an opportunity for every undergraduate student to have an international experience.

Co-chairing the Campaign were Yale College alumni Roland W. Betts ’68, G. Leonard Baker, Jr. ’64, Edward P. Bass ’67, Joshua Bekenstein ’80, and Susan M. Crown ’80. Together, the co-chairs helped to define Campaign strategies and organize volunteers. “The co-chairs worked tirelessly to advance the Yale Tomorrow campaign. I thank them for their wise counsel, commitment, and generosity to the University,” Levin said.

“This has been a tremendous moment for Yale,” Betts said. “We wanted to preserve the character of the University, but also build on the superb teaching that happens here, expand the pace of discovery, make greater contributions abroad, and open its doors to more people. The Yale community has rallied in a truly spectacular way to make those things happen.” Betts stepped down June 30 from his role as Senior Fellow of the Yale Corporation, a post he has held since 2003.

From the outset, donors responded enthusiastically to the priorities of Yale Tomorrow. Yale launched the Campaign in 2006 with a nucleus fund of $1.147 billion, and by 2008—just two years later—giving from all donor groups had reached $2.3 billion. This early momentum led the University to announce in June 2008 a revised goal of $3.5 billion. While the subsequent global economic crisis brought a decline in giving for 2009 and 2010, the final year of the Campaign broke all records, with contributions totaling more than $857 million in the last twelve months.

Inge T. Reichenbach, vice president for Development, observed that support for the Campaign was broad-based, with contributions from individual donors, corporations, and foundations. “Despite challenges that included a historic worldwide recession, donors at every level of giving rallied behind the University’s goals and took us to an amazing final total,” she said. “During the Campaign, the annual fund raised a total of $206 million, representing the income from the equivalent of $588 million in endowment funds. Nearly 2,000 donors gave $100,000 or more during the Campaign, and ten donors made ‘transformative’ gifts of $50 million or more,” Reichenbach added.

Among this most generous group of donors are Denise and Stephen Adams ’59, whose giving has allowed the School of Music to become tuition free; with its growing applicant pool, the School is now able to compete effectively for the nation’s best students. Edward P. Bass has supported campus development, particularly on Science Hill, and recently made major commitments for the establishment of the two new residential colleges. Joan and Joel Smilow ’54 contributed to the construction of Yale’s new cancer hospital that bears their name. The late Edward P. Evans ’64 helped to fund construction of the new School of Management campus, which will be named Evans Hall. Patricia and Peter Gruber have established the Gruber Foundation at Yale University, dedicated to science, global justice, and women’s rights, and John C. Malone ’63E endowed ten senior professorships in the School of Engineering & Applied Sciences.

Several transformative donors directed their giving to Yale’s global initiatives, including Susan and John Jackson ’67, who funded the Jackson Institute for Global Affairs, and Maurice R. Greenberg, who supported student exchange with China, the World Fellows Program, and construction of the Greenberg Conference Center. A gift from Robert Rosenkranz ’62 and Alexandra Munroe was recognized with the naming of Rosenkranz Hall, home of the Department of Political Science as well as some programs of the MacMillan Center.

Among the most visible accomplishments of the Campaign are contributions that have revitalized Yale’s arts campus. Thanks to a leadership gift from Sid R. Bass ’65, Paul Rudolph’s iconic Art & Architecture Building, now known as Rudolph Hall, has been renovated and expanded as a home for the School of Architecture; adjoining it is the newly constructed Jeffrey Loria Center for the History of Art with the Haas Family Arts Library. Across the street, many donors have funded the improvement and expansion of the Yale University Art Gallery. Abby and Mitch Leigh ’51 Mus.B., ’52 Mus.M. funded the renovation of Leigh Hall as a center for administration, teaching, and music practice.

Other enhancements to the arts at Yale include a major grant from the Robina Foundation that now supports emerging playwrights at the School of Drama. Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin ’78 have provided the funding to create the new Institute for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage, located on West Campus, which will make Yale an international hub for the preservation of books, artwork, artifacts, and natural specimens.

In the sciences, donors were particularly generous in their support of interdisciplinary programs. Raymond and Beverly Sackler founded the Sackler Institute for Biological, Physical, and Engineering Sciences, a collaborative effort linking science and biomedical departments across the Yale campus. Substantial gifts were directed to the Yale Stem Cell Center, the Kavli Center for Neuroscience at Yale, and the Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity. Significant progress has also followed the acquisition of West Campus, which added 136 acres and 500,000 square feet of laboratory space to Yale’s physical plant. In addition to the Institute for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage, this extraordinary complex will support six new interdisciplinary research institutes in the physical and life sciences. Donors have supported a planned Energy Institute as well as the new Institute for Cancer Biology, which is pushing the boundaries of personalized medicine.

Yale College was another focus of the Campaign. Donors have supported curricular enhancements in mathematics, science, writing, and foreign languages as well as tutoring and career placement. To date, $172.8 million has been raised toward the construction of two new residential colleges, a project conceived only after the Campaign had begun. This landmark project will enable Yale to increase its undergraduate enrollment by 15 percent.

Edward P. Bass, who succeeds Roland Betts on July 1 as Senior Fellow of the Yale Corporation, has been a strong advocate of the expansion of Yale College and lead donor to the new colleges. “Applications to Yale College have never been higher, and we turn away a significant number of students every year who could certainly succeed here and contribute significantly to the undergraduate community. This initiative, which includes not only the addition of two residential colleges but also expansion of the faculty, programs, and services, will strengthen the University in every way,” he said.

Campaign giving has added $117.8 million to the financial aid endowment, supporting scholarships in Yale College that now go to nearly 60 percent of the student body, with an average award of $35,800 per year. Substantial funding has also been directed to International Summer Awards, so that every undergraduate can afford to travel abroad for work and study. In the academic year 2010–2011, some 1,400 undergraduates participated in opportunities abroad, a three-fold increase since 2005.

Globalization was in fact a University-wide fundraising priority; along with Yale College, every school and department added to the international dimensions of its teaching and research. With the leadership of the MacMillan Center, the University has increased the number of international scholars on its faculty. A particular focus was the Yale India Initiative, where donors funded four new professorships in the study of India and South Asia. In just one year of operation, the new Jackson Institute for Global Affairs has brought extraordinary leaders to teach undergraduates and introduced a new major in Global Affairs. The Jackson Institute has also launched a Global Health Initiative in collaboration with the School of Public Health. The Campaign has also elevated Yale’s global presence and impact, with donors funding publications like YaleGlobal Online and Yale Environment 360, leadership programs for established leaders of China and India, and the Yale World Fellows Program for emerging global leaders.

President Levin said, “We launched the Yale Tomorrow campaign at a time of unprecedented strength for the University, in terms of resources, reputation, and our ability to contribute to the world. Our challenge was to make that moment more than just a bright spot in our history. We had an opportunity with this Campaign to make Yale a permanently better University, more able to educate leaders, to push the bounds of knowledge, and to participate meaningfully in our global community. I am forever thankful to Yale’s many supporters who stepped forward with such generosity to help us realize our ambitious goals.”

Yale Tomorrow web site.