When the Campaign for Boston University: Choose to Be Great formally launched in 2012, no one knew for sure how it would go, or where it would end. To be sure, the pre-launch commitments of more than $240 million augured well, as did the 100 percent participation of the Board of Trustees. Still: was it brilliantly audacious, or dangerously foolhardy, to declare a goal of $1 billion for the first comprehensive campaign in the University\u2019s history? And then, when early contributions came pouring in faster than expected, was it overreaching to extend the Campaign\u2014and raise that already ambitious goal to $1.5 billion?<\/p>\n
Well, now we know the answers to those questions. The Campaign surpassed its goal, raising a grand total of $1.85 billion. It brought in gifts from more than 175,000 donors, including more than 1,800 commitments of $100,000 or more; 250 of those commitments exceeded $1 million. Thanks to the Campaign, the University has raised cash at a record-breaking rate for nine years in a row. In 2012, Giving Day did not exist; in 2019, it brought in more than $3.25 million in just 24 hours. BU has two new schools and a newly named third, new buildings from CFA to LAW to MED, 57 new endowed chairs, and more than 250 new endowed scholarships.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s take a quick look around campus to see some of the changes the Campaign has made possible. This is just a sampling\u2014at every school and college, in every corner of all three campuses, the Choose to Be Great Campaign has brought great choices, and great changes.<\/p>\n