Step Forward campaign still set to finish next year
By: Max Loos, News Editor
Issue date: 2/5/10 Section: News
In spite of a difficult last year for fundraising, Macalester's Step Forward capital campaign is still on track to finish by the end of 2011.
The campaign, created to fund the Leonard Center, the Institute for Global Citizenship, the Janet Wallace Fine Arts Center renovations, and Macalester's endowment, was originally scheduled to reach its $150 million goal by the summer of 2011. When the financial crisis hit, that timeline became unrealistic.
"I've been doing fundraising for 27 years," said Vice President for Advancement Thomas Bonner. "2009 had to be the toughest year ever."
Donations were more difficult to come by as potential donors struggled with whether they were financially secure enough to be making gifts to Macalester.
"If their investments are down 50 percent and one or two of their children are out of work, they have a different mindset, they're not ready to get rid of big chunks of money," said Bonner. The amount of money donated to the campaign flattened out between December 2008 and June 2009.
With recent stabilization of the economic climate, though, things are beginning to pick up.
"We're starting to see some light at the end of the tunnel," Bonner said. "We're starting to see people, at least since December, more willing to have a conversation."
"We're still comfortable, at this point, that we can end the campaign next year," he said.
To do that, the campaign needed to have $112 million at the end of December of 2009. It had $114 million, and has already met the March 2010 goal of $115 million.
About a third of that total has been donated by Macalester's Board of Trustees. The rest has been donated by alumni, various foundations such as the Mellon foundation, Macalester parents, and some businesses and friends of Macalester in the Twin Cities.
The campaign was able to survive the financial crisis with only minimal damage and delays, partially because two of the building projects, the Leonard Center and the IGC, were fortuitously finished or fully paid for before the crisis hit.
The campaign, created to fund the Leonard Center, the Institute for Global Citizenship, the Janet Wallace Fine Arts Center renovations, and Macalester's endowment, was originally scheduled to reach its $150 million goal by the summer of 2011. When the financial crisis hit, that timeline became unrealistic.
"I've been doing fundraising for 27 years," said Vice President for Advancement Thomas Bonner. "2009 had to be the toughest year ever."
Donations were more difficult to come by as potential donors struggled with whether they were financially secure enough to be making gifts to Macalester.
"If their investments are down 50 percent and one or two of their children are out of work, they have a different mindset, they're not ready to get rid of big chunks of money," said Bonner. The amount of money donated to the campaign flattened out between December 2008 and June 2009.
With recent stabilization of the economic climate, though, things are beginning to pick up.
"We're starting to see some light at the end of the tunnel," Bonner said. "We're starting to see people, at least since December, more willing to have a conversation."
"We're still comfortable, at this point, that we can end the campaign next year," he said.
To do that, the campaign needed to have $112 million at the end of December of 2009. It had $114 million, and has already met the March 2010 goal of $115 million.
About a third of that total has been donated by Macalester's Board of Trustees. The rest has been donated by alumni, various foundations such as the Mellon foundation, Macalester parents, and some businesses and friends of Macalester in the Twin Cities.
The campaign was able to survive the financial crisis with only minimal damage and delays, partially because two of the building projects, the Leonard Center and the IGC, were fortuitously finished or fully paid for before the crisis hit.
Be the first to comment on this story