The Will to Excel Campaign has raised $359.9 million of its $425 million goal through August, representing 84.7 percent of the five-year total in only 68.5 percent of the time.
While the summer months of July and August are a traditionally lean period in the fund-raising calendar, the campaign was able to sustain much of its momentum by generating $6 million in pledges for July and $2.3 million for August, according to Development Publications Director Jack DeGange.
The funds raised during August were realized "largely from gifts booked by the Bequests and Trusts and Foundations and Corporate Relations Programs," according to an electronic mail bulletin.
One reason there are fewer donations during the summer is because many people are on vacation, DeGange said.
DeGange also cited a change in policy this year by the Alumni Fund - which handles donations from alumni classes- that generated a high amount of revenue in June, therefore reducing August's total.
"We had a peak coming through June because the Alumni Fund asked people to send more cash in ... in order to receive credit, individuals had to give cash on hand by June 30," DeGange said. July 1 marked the start of the 1995 fiscal year.
The Campaign set a record in 1994 with an annual cash total of $73.9 million and DeGange said a significant cash foundation has been laid for 1995.
The volunteers and staff of the Capital Campaign concentrated on strategic planning this summer by analyzing results, evaluating potential and creating a plan for the final two years of the Campaign, according to DeGange.
The Will to Excel Capital Campaign was publicly launched in October 1991 to raise funding for the College in three main economic divisions: endowment, current use and facilities.
Donations to the Campaign come from corporations, foundations and individuals such as parents, alumni and friends.
Funds from the endowment portion will be used to implement the new academic programs and hire additional professors for the new curriculum implemented with the Class of 1998.
Gifts from the Campaign are funding renovations of two campus facilities. The late Florence Moore, the widow of Lansing Moore '37, gave $2 million in 1992 for renovation of the Center Theater in the Hopkins Center, the Top of the Hop and the lobby area and an endowment for maintenance of the theater.
The theater will be renamed in honor of Mr. Moore and will officially reopen with ceremonies honoring the couple Nov. 11.
A gift of $200,000 from an anonymous donor received in July will enable the College to renovate four squash courts in the John W. Berry Athletic Center to international specifications.
In addition to the pledges made during July, the College received $10.3 million in cash pledged in previous months. The gifts include $4.3 million by Pat and E. John Rosenwald '52 Tu '53, Chairman of the College's Board of Trustees and a $3.4 donation from the estate of the late Barbara Hood, nearly half of an $8 million bequest from her late husband, former Trustee Harvey Hood '18.
The Rosenwald gift named the organic chemistry laboratory in Burke Laboratory and one of the two 60-seat auditoriums in Byrne Hall at the Amos Tuck School of Business Administration, according to the bulletin.
The bequest from Mrs. Hood established an endowed fund to help meet the projected annual cost of the new undergraduate curriculum.
