More than 28,000 faculty and staff, alumni, parents and friends participated in Ever Elon: The Campaign for the Future of Our University, which concluded on Dec. 31, 2011, and raised $107.3 million to support the people, programs and facilities at our university.
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Ever Elon was historic in many ways. It was the largest fundraising campaign in the university’s history, surpassing the $100 million goal. It also was the first to focus primarily on building the university’s endowment to support student scholarships, faculty development, the Elon Experiences programs and academic and athletics facilities.
The results of the campaign are extraordinary and will be felt for generations. Among the many highlights were impressive gains in annual and planned giving. Annual gifts fund key operations of the university and are raised and spent in the same year. Planned gifts, including estate gifts, build a vital pipeline of support for Elon’s future.
The impact of Ever Elon includes the following:
- 148 new endowed scholarships, including those to support students with financial need, special talents, Elon Law students and student-athletes.
- 47 new scholarships to increase access to study abroad experiences
- 24 new endowments to support student participation in any of the Elon Experiences (study abroad, service-learning, internships, undergraduate research and leadership)
- $5.1 million to support excellent teaching and scholarship, including 7 new professorships and endowments to support research and other professional development activities. (The majority of gifts to support faculty development were made through estate and other planned gifts, which represent future resources for the university.)
- New academic centers and programs: The Doherty Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership, Porter Family Professional Development Center, Chandler Family Professional Sales Center, Student Professional Development Center and Elon Academy
- New facilities: Lindner Hall, Numen Lumen Pavilion, Alumni Field House, W. Cecil Worsley III Golf Training Center, Hunt Softball Park, Gerald L. Francis Center and renovations to Alumni Gym and Latham Park.
Now that Ever Elon has concluded, the university will continue to raise money as it does every year to support key priorities, including those in the Elon Commitment strategic plan. Participation in the annual Faculty/Staff Campaign is important to achieving these goals.
Momentum continues to build for the 2011-12 Faculty/Staff Campaign. To date, 55 percent of university employees have made a gift to the annual fund drive, contributing more than $320,000 in cash and pledges. These gifts support scholarships, Elon Experiences, faculty and staff development, athletics and other priorities. Among the many successes of this year’s campaign has been the number of veteran employees who have made their first gifts to Elon. Sheldon Carr, who works in the physical plant, is one of those employees.
“After seeing all of the construction going on and the excitement around athletics, I changed my mind about giving back,” Carr says. “I saw the way that Elon was working toward the future, and I wanted to be a part of it.”
Gifts from employees like Carr will play an important role in meeting this year’s goal of 65 percent participation in the Faculty/Staff Campaign. Co-chairs Rhonda Belton and Paul Miller hope more employees realize the importance of supporting Elon each year. The Faculty/Staff Campaign began June 1, 2011, and concludes on May 31.
Click here to make a gift and visit the Faculty/Staff Campaign website, which includes a list of departmental captains and the electronic payroll deduction form.
Recent Gifts and Pledges of $10,000 or More
To view the latest list of donors, please click this link and use your full email address (name@elon.edu) and password to access the PDF file.
By University Advancement staff