​Before coming to Elon, Kenneth Brown ’19 and Dora Muratovic ’19 didn’t know how much they had in common. After fleeing war-torn Kosovo as a child, Muratovic and her family immigrated to Orlando, Florida, hoping for a better life. Brown grew up the oldest of nine children in Greensboro, North Carolina, where his family often struggled to make ends meet.  

Faced with adversity, both knew getting an education would be the key to their success. When time came to choose a college, they both fell in love with Elon, but knew that without financial aid it would be impossible to enroll. Now about to graduate, Brown and Muratovic are among Elon’s most active and engaged student leaders who embody the power that scholarships have to change lives. 

Scholarships opened doors for Brown to study abroad in Scotland, present at professional conferences and create programs for student organizations as student body president. He plans to pursue a career in higher education. Scholarships also allowed Muratovic to study in Argentina, Chile and Peru and complete two internships at Goldman Sachs in New York, where she will start a job following graduation. 

Transformational stories such as these are at the heart of the Elon LEADS Campaign, the largest fundraising initiative in the university’s history focused on increasing funding for scholarships. The university launched the public phase of the campaign on April 5, setting out to raise $250 million by May 31, 2022. More than half of that goal is designated for scholarships. “Keeping college affordable is the great challenge at every institution. We understand that, and this effort is the cornerstone of the Elon LEADS Campaign,” says Elon Trustee Dave Porter p’11 p’19, who is chairing the campaign during its first year.

Work on the campaign goes back to 2015 when members of Elon’s board of trustees began the planning 

phase that resulted in four main funding priorities. In addition to scholarships, the campaign will increase access to Elon’s renowned engaged learning programs called the Elon Experiences, support faculty and staff mentors and continue developing Elon’s iconic learning environment. “Our four main goals are all designed to promote student success,” says Elon President Connie Ledoux Book. “We will help them afford to come to Elon, to thrive in this amazing environment for learning and to form the relationships that will set them on a course to improve our world.”

Brown understands firsthand the role philanthropy plays in making that possible. “When you create a 

scholarship, you show students like me that no matter where we come from, we belong at Elon,” says Brown, who received the Leon and Lorraine Watson Scholarship in the Odyssey Program. “You demonstrate that when given an opportunity and the resources to grow, we can change the world. 
I know that Elon has definitely changed mine.”

Muratovic, too, is grateful for the life-changing support. “I always knew I wanted to make a difference in the world, but before Elon, I wasn’t sure how,” says the Business Fellow and Susan Scholarship recipient in the Odyssey Program. “I now have the tools to understand what I can offer the world—and that is my leadership.” 

Because Elon LEADS is a comprehensive campaign, all gifts to the university count toward the $250 million goal. So far, donors have contributed $168 million. “The Elon LEADS Campaign represents a historic opportunity to drive Elon to new levels of distinction and national prominence,” Book says. “Elon leads as an institution because each of us leads as individuals. We need every member of our community invested in this campaign and in Elon’s future, because Elon leads through you.” 

Supporting graduates the world ne​eds

In a nutshell: We will expand scholarships to support a dynamic community of learners eager to participate in Elon’s nationally recognized high-impact learning environment by endowing additional Odyssey, Fellows and Elon Engagement Scholarships, as well as through annual gifts.

Goal: $140 million

Key figures: So far campaign donors have endowed:

• 66 Odyssey Scholarshipsz
  ($500,000 minimum endowed gift commitment)
• 14 Fellows Scholarships
  ($250,000 minimum endowed gift commitment)
• 38 Elon Engagement Scholarships
  ($100,000 minimum endowed gift commitment)

Annual impact: Make a gift of any size to Elon's Greatest Needs, Phoenix Club or the School of Law Annual Scholarship. 
200 donors who give $50 = $10,000 in scholarship support

Tim Boles ’20 is the quintessential Elon student. As a human service studies major, he is passionate about improving the lives of children. His ultimate goal: Join a nonprofit where he can work directly with children while addressing the systems in society that work against many of them. At Elon, he’s found an environment that is preparing him well to make a difference.

“So many of our classes are service-based learning, so we apply what we learn in class to the field,” he says. “Those experiences have helped me figure out what I want to do with my life.” That includes completing a practicum with the local Boys & Girls Club, which he calls “a dream come true.”

Two important forces helped bring Boles to Elon. His two older siblings both attended the university, opening his eyes to the possibilities of an Elon education. He also received an Elon Engagement Scholarship, which provides annual tuition assistance and a one-time grant for an engaged learning experience. These scholarships enable many students to choose Elon over other schools, turning their goal of attending Elon into reality. 

“Elon wants to keep cultivating critical thinkers. It’s hard to do that if you have the same kind of students,” Boles says. “Scholarships bring students with different experiences to our campus, which facilitates new narratives and contributes to the critical thinking environment that thrives here.”

​“We are proud to support Elon in many ways, including by endowing a number of Odyssey Program scholarships to support first-generation students, and by helping to build a vibrant alumni network in New York and around the world. We feel it’s important to invest in this university and its incredible students because the world needs more Elon graduates.” 

—Elon University Board of Trustees Chair Ed Doherty P’07 and wife Joan Doherty P’07, co-chairs of the Elon LEADS Campaign Planning Committee

Providing access to engaged learning experiences

In a nutshell: We will broaden access to the Elon Experiences, Elon’s hallmark engaged learning programs that provide students with the skills and knowledge they need to succeed in today’s complex world. These include global engagement, internships, undergraduate research, service, leadership and other innovative approaches to learning.

Goal: $10 million

Key figures: $50,000 minimum endowed gift commitment

Annual impact: Make a gift of any size to provide access to the Elon Experiences:

• 45 donors who give $25 = $1,125 to support a global engagement experience
• 30 donors who give $50 = $1,500 to support a leadership experience
• 16 donors who give $75 = $1,200 to support a service experience

One Elon Experience wasn’t enough for Holly Miranda ’20. During her fall 2018 semester in Tanzania, she took on three of the five at one time—global study, undergraduate research and service. The public health and international studies double major from Hampton, New Hampshire, traveled alone to the African nation where she conducted research focusing on the roles of traditional healers, religious healers and Western medicine on lower respiratory tract infections. 

Miranda immersed herself in service in the small village where she called members of her host family mother, father, sisters and brothers. While there she studied Swahili, aided the elderly, taught English in primary schools and helped with HIV/AIDS testing in a community where 25 to 30 percent of people are impacted by the disease. Miranda is the recipient of an Elon Engagement Scholarship and made the most of it.

“I learned what it takes to create a research project where you are the primary investigator, the one doing the research on a topic, the one to organize and interpret the data. I was a one-woman show in a culture where I was learning the language—all of our research was conducted in Swahili. It was really empowering to learn that I can do it, which is a big deal to say as an undergraduate. Additionally, it reaffirmed that my place in this world is to work in international aid.” —Holly Miranda ’20 

Enriching relationships with mentors who matter

In a nutshell: We will invest in outstanding faculty and staff who inspire curiosity and creativity, foster innovation and discovery and transform lives through collaborative mentoring. We will do so by creating new endowed professorships and emerging scholar endowments.

Goal: $10 million

Key figures: 

• $1 million minimum gift commitment to endow a professorship
• $500,000 minimum gift commitment to create an emerging scholar endowment

Annual impact: Make a gift of any size to any academic unit:

• 25 donors who give $100 = $2,500 to support a school or program

When she graduates in May, Jasmine Jones ’19 will walk immediately into a job with MetLife Insurance Co. as a database analyst. Such an outcome seemed unlikely when she arrived at Elon from Waldorf, Maryland, as a shy computer science major. That was before she met Haya Ajjan, Elon’s Sheldon and Christine Gordon Professor of Entrepreneurship and director of the Center for Organizational Analytics in the Martha and Spencer Love School of Business.

Jones left the comfort of a computer lab to be an intern working with Ajjan at the center. Under Ajjan’s mentoring, Jones developed computer code that enabled a local insurance company to access data within minutes rather than days. More importantly, Jones presented her ground-breaking work before a gathering of 200 people at a conference of insurance software experts. It was a nerve-wracking assignment Jones says she would not have been able to face without her months of working with Ajjan. After the presentation, she had her pick of jobs. 

Ajjan says the student-mentor relationship is powerful and often long-lasting. She admits to being inspired by her students as she also learns from them. “It’s work that’s so giving. It feels like you have connected with someone on a deep level,” Ajjan says. “We build friendships for years to come. With Jasmine we’re going to have a lifetime relationship. She’s going to come back to me with stories and friendship for years to come.”

“Before I joined the Center for Organizational Analytics, I was that stereotypical computer science student. I didn’t talk much. I was very technical, not personal at all. Haya was able to bring out the professional development side of me. Haya pushes you to do something outside your comfort zone. She pushed me to take more of a leadership role in the center and it helped dig out the skills within me.” —Jasmine Jones ’19

Enhancing our iconic learning environment

In a nutshell: We will expand and steward one of the nation’s finest collegiate campuses, providing new academic and residential facilities and supporting programs, operations and initiatives that enhance Elon’s seamless learning environment.

Goal: $90 million

Key figures: Multiple naming opportunities exist for:

• The Inn at Elon
• STEM and Engineering Facilities 

Completed: School of Communications expansion anchored by Dwight C. Schar Hall, Steers Pavilion, Snow Family Grand Atrium, Citrone Plaza and Turner Theatre; Schar Center; Richard W. Sankey Hall; Koenigsberger Learning Center; LaRose Student Commons

Annual impact: Make a gift of any size to student organizations, religious life designations, alumni affinity groups or club sports. 

• 50 donors who give $75 = $3,750 to support an organization or program

​Eduardo Gonzalez ’21 was among the first students to take a class in Richard W. Sankey Hall when it opened in fall 2018. In many ways, Sankey Hall, constructed during the silent phase of the Elon LEADS Campaign, is designed with students like Gonzalez in mind. Built to mirror the modern workplace, Sankey Hall offers students in all majors spaces for collaboration, creativity and discovery. 

Along with McMichael Science Center and future STEM and engineering facilities, Sankey Hall will be part of a planned discovery quad that connects business, entrepreneurship, engineering and science. The STEM and engineering facilities are the next major capital priorities of the campaign. Gonzalez, of Nashville, Tennessee, is majoring in engineering and minoring in entrepreneurship. He already utilizes the Doherty Center for Creativity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship within Sankey Hall and looks forward to what’s next in the continued growth of Elon’s campus.

“It’s one thing to learn in a classroom and another to design and create in a lab or an incubator. There has to be opportunities for people to create new things and experiment with what they have. It’s a more effective way to become an engineer. The STEM facilities will be a place where you can do exactly that.” —Eduardo Gonzalez ’21 

Every Gift Counts

With an ambitious goal of $250 million, the Elon LEADS Campaign calls for broad support across the Elon family. Everyone has a role to play, because every donor and every gift count toward the goal.   
“Campaigns are about more than the dollars they raise. They are about what those dollars will do to change lives,” says James B. Piatt Jr., vice president for university advancement. “Our top priority for Elon LEADS is to encourage donors to support scholarships through endowed, annual and planned gifts. Their inspired generosity will help Elon remain a best value and provide access to the university for students of all financial backgrounds.” 

Donors can support the campaign’s four key priorities through:

• annual gifts of any size
• estate and other planned gifts 
• endowed support for scholarships, professorships or programs
• gifts to capital projects 

Now is the time to begin a tradition of supporting Elon or to expand your impact by committing to a monthly gift throughout the life of the campaign. The collective impact of Elon’s donors will propel the university forward for decades to come. Make your impact today at elonleads.com.

​“The most important contribution this campaign is going to make is to elevate Elon’s greatest asset, which is its commitment to engaged learning and its impact on students and our society. I believe you have to be personally engaged with every single element of the educational process. The amount of innovation that comes from that is spectacular. This is what makes Elon special.”—Allen Gant, Elon trustee and chair of the Elon LEADS Campaign Cabinet