Onward Campaign raises $20 million in 10 months
The University of South Dakota’s Onward Campaign has raised about $20 million in less than a year, moving the effort closer to its $250 million goal.
Steve Brown, president and CEO of the USD Foundation, which is in charge of the campaign, said it has raised about $134 million prior to last year’s Red Tie event in October, and raised the additional $20 million in the past 10 months.
“Our responsibility is to seek private donations and support from our alumni and friends and we do that on an ongoing basis,” Brown said.
The campaign, which began in January 2012 and will continue until December 2018, is raising funds that will go toward construction projects, hiring of professors, student scholarships and research.
So far about $60 million of the funds have been slated to pay for the construction of the new athletic sports complex and and outdoor track. That money is included in the overall $112 million price tag for the facilities. About $29 million of the $250 million goal will be set aside for professorships and endowed chairs, $12 million will be used for a student and faculty enrichment fund and $97 million will go toward scholarships.
One student who has already benifitted from the campaign is Alisha Satterlee, a first-year nursing student from the Spearfish, S.D., area. Satterlee will recieve $40,000 over a four year period from a Spearfish-area specific scholarship.
Without the scholarship, Satterlee said she would have had to borrow thousands of dollars worth of student loans. When she first heard the news over the phone, she thought someone was playing a prank on her.
“I was sitting there with my financial aid packet there trying to see how I was going to pay for everything and someone called me and said ‘We’re going to help you pay for this’ and I thought they were lying,” she said.
Every year thousands of potential donors are contacted by USD asking for donations. Many of these potential donors are USD alumni.
Michelle Green, assistant vice president for constituent engagement for the USD Foundation, said the Foundation has a database of about 88,000 potential donors. These donors are then contacted by phone, email and direct mail to solicite donations.
“From an annual giving standpoint, our big focus is scholarship dollars and providing that opportunity for students to come here and experience USD,” Green said.
USD recieves about $21 million from alumni annually. Cash donations make up about $15 million of that, and the rest are pledges.
When donating money, donors can pledge to pay a certain dollar amount over a period of time instead of paying money “up front.” Only about two percent of donations have to have their timeframes changed, Brown said.
The USD Foundation is in talks with a handful of potential donors about possible seven and eight figure donations, Brown said.
Since the start of the campaign, the average amount of donations has gone up significantly, something Brown said can be attributed to the visible construction of the DakotaDome expansion on campus.
“We’ve certainly have been heart-warmed by the generosity of those folks and certainly the amount of dollars raised,” he said.
Brown said he expects the Onward Campaign to reach and even surpass its goal within the Foundation’s seven year plan.
“We’re tracking right along – right where we had hoped to be at this point – and we’re very excited about some of the things that seem to be right ahead for us,” he said.
(Photo: University of South Dakota President Jim Abbott speaks during the USD Onward Campaign Red Tie Event Oct. 10, 2014 in the Muenster University Center ballroom. To date, the campaign has raised about $154 million, moving the campaign closer to its $250 million goal. File Photo / The Volante)
