Capital Campaigns

Vermont Law School has surpassed its goal of $15 million for the Campaign for Vermont Law School, with total gifts and commitments currently totaling $15.3 million. The funds will support student financial aid, a new Center for Legal Services, programs that improve national environmental and energy policies, and educational initiatives that produce highly skilled lawyers at home and abroad.

VLS hopes to raise another $1 million to $2 million before closing the campaign when Dean and President Jeff Shields retires at the end of the fiscal year on June 30.

Rotary International announced that Rotary clubs around the world have succeeded in raising more than $200 million in new funding for polio eradication.

The fundraising milestone was reached in response to a $355 million challenge grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. All funds have been earmarked to support polio immunization activities in affected countries where this vaccine-preventable disease continues to paralyze children.

"In recognition of Rotary's great work, and to inspire Rotarians in the future, the foundation is committing an additional $50 million to extend our partnership," said Jeff Raikes,CEO  of the Gates Foundation.

Delaware State University has launched the second major campaign to raise money in its history, and trustees will be among the first targets. Over the next year or two, Delaware State University will begin reaching out to potential donors to give large "leadership" gifts. A target amount, expected to exceed $10 million, will be established, and DSU will appeal to the public and its alumni for the fundraising push.

The money would support student scholarships, faculty resources and growing DSU's endowment fund.

Anderson University recently announced to the board of trustees that the institution has exceeded the $113 million mark of the $110 million Dreams. Discovery. Direction. campaign goal. The public phase of the Dreams. Discovery. Direction. campaign for Anderson University was officially launched on Oct. 5, 2006, and is the university’s largest campaign to date.

The Dreams. Discovery. Direction. campaign was designed to raise support for endowment and scholarships, facilities and equipment, academic and student programs, and operational needs.

Webster University said Tuesday it has wrapped up its multi-million dollar Webster Works fundraising campaign.

The school, which launched the public portion of the campaign in 2010, exceeded its $55 million goal, raising $56.5 million.

Webster Works supports a variety of campus initiatives, including better classrooms, scholarships, endowed professorships and tuition support.

As San Francisco enters the year of the America's Cup, race organizers say they've secured the $12 million needed to clear the city's first crucial fundraising benchmark.

But some of that money came from an unconventional source — an agency within the America's Cup.

To cover the city's costs for the regatta, the America's Cup Organizing Committee, a newly formed team of local entrepreneurs and philanthropists, pledged to raise $32 million over three years.

The University of Southern California is pursuing the most ambitious publicly announced fundraising goal ever in U.S. academia: $6 billion by 2018.

As it gears up for the drive, USC plans to double its fundraising staff by next year, to about 400, officials said. The university has recently opened development offices in San Francisco, New York and Washington and may follow with Chicago and Dallas. It also reaches out to potential donors through alumni offices in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Taipei, Seoul and Mumbai.

Duquesne University has surpassed its $150 million fundraising campaign a year early, the school announced Thursday.

At a holiday luncheon for its employees, university President Charles J. Dougherty said the "Advancing Our Legacy" campaign, scheduled to end in December 2012, has raised $151.3 million.

The fundraising program began in 2004; the Catholic university announced a $150 million goal in 2008, when it had raised $84 million.

Ted Hart speaks with Advanced Certified Fundraising Executive Linda Lysakowski, president and CEO of Capital Venture and author of "Capital Campaigns: Everything You NEED to Know," about capital campaigns on his Nonprofit Coach radio show.

The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center has completed its largest fundraising campaign ever. Thanks to the generosity of supporters across the globe, Making Cancer History®: The Campaign to Transform Cancer Care has raised $1.215 billion.

The campaign reached its original $1 billion mark in August 2010, more than two years ahead of schedule. To fund still-unmet needs, a 19-member campaign executive committee chaired by Harry J. Longwell of Dallas recommended increasing the goal to $1.2 billion, with a shortened target date of Dec. 31, 2011.