Six months ahead of schedule, Texas A&M’s capital campaign has passed the $3 billion dollar mark.
That feat, a combined effort of Texas A&M, the A&M Foundation, the Association of Former Students, the 12th Man Foundation, and the George H.W. Bush Foundation, was celebrated Thursday night at Kyle Field’s Hall of Champions with the Legacy Society Gala.
A&M Foundation president Tyson Voelkel says the Legacy Society recognizes donors with lifetime gifts of at least $100,000 dollars.
730 attended the event, which Voelkel says is the largest turnout ever.
Voelkel says more than 630,000 people have contributed to the largest capital campaign for a public university in Texas and the third largest in the United States.
The “Lead By Example” campaign has a final goal of $4 billion dollars.
Click below for comments from Tyson Voelkel, visiting with WTAW’s Bill Oliver.
Additional information from Texas A&M:
As of March 31, Texas A&M University’s Lead by Example campaign has raised more than $3 billion of its $4 billion goal. The news comes six months ahead of campaign projections, which forecasted that the university would meet the $3 billion mark in late 2018.
The milestone was announced April 12 at the Texas A&M Foundation’s annual A&M Legacy Society Gala, an event honoring individuals, corporations and organizations who have cumulatively donated $100,000 or more in support of the university, and individuals who have made provisions in their estate plans for gifts to support Texas A&M.
“Aggies and our supporters are model examples of commitment to the betterment of higher education, and I applaud their significant efforts on this latest campaign,” said Texas A&M University President Michael K. Young. “We set a substantial goal because we know our university and its people are capable of great things, ready to make even more significant contributions through transformational education, discovery and innovation, and impact on our state, nation and world.”
Mark and SuSu Fischer, who serve as campaign co-chairs alongside Tim and Amy Leach and John and Debbie Bethancourt, stated, “Our love for this institution and its values has no bounds, and we are so proud of everyone involved in achieving this milestone ahead of schedule.”
Publicly launched in 2015, the Lead by Example campaign is Texas A&M’s third comprehensive fundraising campaign. With a goal of reaching $4 billion, it is the largest higher education campaign in Texas history and the third largest conducted nationally by a public university. The university began counting gifts to the campaign on Jan. 1, 2012.
The initiative is a joint effort between Texas A&M and its affiliate organizations: the Texas A&M Foundation, The Association of Former Students, the 12th Man Foundation and the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library Foundation.
The Lead by Example campaign is scheduled to culminate in 2020, which coincides with the formal conclusion of the university’s 20-year “Vision 2020” initiative, a long-range roadmap to help position Texas A&M as one of the nation’s foremost public institutions of higher learning.
Support raised through the campaign will empower Texas A&M to continue to be recognized as a world-class, top-tier public research institution and provide students with access to an affordable education with the best faculty, facilities, technology and transformational opportunities.
The campaign is guided by three overarching themes:
• Transformational Education for All Students: Bolster each student’s education by giving life-changing experiences and granting timely graduation with low debt.
• Discovery and Innovation for the World: Address the world’s most formidable problems through collaborative research and entrepreneurial approaches.
• Impact on the State, Nation and World: Integrate Texas A&M’s land-grant origins with its top-tier research strengths to serve the state, nation and world.
“I don’t believe there is a better investment for our donors’ philanthropic dollars than Texas A&M University,” said Texas A&M Foundation President Tyson Voelkel. “Our team at the Texas A&M Foundation is full of passionate professionals who are dedicated to meeting the needs of the university through our focus on purposeful philanthropy. Thanks to our donors and the success of this campaign, we honor our rich history, preserve our time-honored traditions and continue to impact lives at our great university. For this steadfast commitment, we say ‘thank you.’ However, while we’ve reached this milestone, we must not relax our efforts to meet 100 percent of the campaign’s objectives.”
More than 165,000 individual donors have contributed to the campaign, as well as more than 21,000 corporate and foundation donors. To date, more than 630,000 gifts have been received.
Through the campaign, donors have funded more than 93 faculty chairs, professorships and fellowships; 1,760 undergraduate and graduate scholarships; and 336 other endowments, which includes those supporting student organizations, college-based programs and excellence funds, study abroad initiatives and the university libraries, among others.
The university’s two previous high-dollar capital campaigns, One Spirit One Vision and Capturing the Spirit, raised $1.5 billion and $637 million, respectively.
Learn more about the campaign at leadbyexample.tamu.edu.
