Campaign for Carolina, UNC’s campus-wide fundraising drive, launched in October 2017 with the goal of reaching $4.25 billion by December 31, 2022. The university announced Thursday, it met this goal a year early. This makes UNC the eighth public university in the United States to surpass $4 billion in a single campaign.
UNC reported more than 200,000 donors contributed to the Campaign for Carolina with 83 percent of donors contributing $1,000 or less.
David Routh is the vice chancellor of development at UNC and the CEO of the UNC Chapel Hill Foundation, which receives gifts on behalf of the university. He recently spoke with 97.9 The Hill about reaching this milestone for the Campaign for Carolina.
Routh said despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the campaign actually had its best six-month period in the latter half of 2021.
“All of us have figured out how to continue to live our lives, do our business and people have continued to support the university,” Routh said. “That’s been very gratifying to watch.”
Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz said in a release the $4.25 billion will benefit generations to come.
“We already see many tangible effects on our campus,” Guskiewicz said, “such as new scholarships and fellowships, groundbreaking programs for our students, advancements for our patients, and state-of-the-art buildings and facilities that have been established since this campaign began.”
Although the campaign reached its initial goal, Routh said Campaign for Carolina will keep running hard through December 31.
“We still have a lot to accomplish in this campaign,” he said. “We still have a scholarship and student need goal that we’re attempting to raise [money for.]”
Routh said the university hopes to reach an additional $1 billion for students during the remaining months of the campaign. As of January 1, 2022, that total sits at $810 million. This money is dedicated to aspects of student funding like need-based scholarships, merit-based scholarships, athletic scholarships and graduate student fellowships.
Routh said 42 percent of admitted students at UNC need some sort of financial aid and a goal of this fundraiser is to ensure the university has the private support to attract those students.
“Students are the lifeblood of the university, and we really need to be able to make that $1 billion goal,” Routh said. “That would be quite a statement to make across the region, across the nation and across higher education.”
Routh said the community, state and the world benefits from the innovation happening at UNC.
“To be able to have the private support to fund research and have some of those ideas actually turn into companies that employ our state citizens,” said Routh, “that’s a big deal for the economic environment of the state, but also for the general reputation of the state of North Carolina.”
The Campaign for Carolina is the most ambitious fundraising campaign in UNC history. The campaign was inspired by the strategic plan Blueprint for Next – which continues to guide Carolina’s current leadership’s strategic plan: Carolina Next: Innovations for Public Good.
Lead photo via UNC.
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