Boldly Brown: Campaign for Academic Enrichment

Historic Campaign Engages Donors,
Transforms Lives

Isn't it amazing what a dedicated community, pulling together in response to a compelling message, can accomplish?

We started with the Plan for Academic Enrichment—a strategic guide that built on our strengths and steered us to new levels of excellence. Our goals were clear and ambitious: more faculty to teach and conduct path-breaking research, need-blind admission for undergraduates and enhanced financial aid for all students, resources to advance scholarship and make Brown a player on the global stage, and an improved campus infrastructure.

We asked for your help in making this vision a reality, and your response was a resounding affirmation that took us $200 million past our $1.4 billion goal. More than 69,000 alumni, friends, parents, faculty, staff, and students—fully 36% of whom were first-time donors—voiced their approval by giving a record $1.61 billion since July 2003 to Boldly Brown: Campaign for Academic Enrichment.   

“This is an historic achievement for Brown,” said President Ruth J. Simmons. “This University has always been an extraordinary institution, well-supported by our extended community and focused firmly on a goal of academic excellence. Now our outlook is as bright as our aspirations.”

What this means for Brown::

• Funds raised for 58 new faculty chairs—as well as another twelve athletic, administrative, and other endowed positions—are enabling us to recruit and retain individuals of the highest caliber.
• A 20% larger faculty is engaging our entire community in deep, rich discourse.
• The $311+ million raised for financial aid is allowing us to recruit the most qualified students and is significantly reducing the debt burden to them and to their families.
• Expanded graduate programs, a 230% increase in first-year seminars, and focused interdisciplinary research are advancing scholarship throughout the University.
• Significantly-expanded relationships with international constituents and institutions are heralding Brown's increased presence on the global stage.
• The renovation of seven buildings and three carefully-planned new constructions are assuring that our campus will retain its historic character while facilitating 21st-century accomplishments.
• The research enterprise is expanding, growing from $115.3 million in FY 2002 to $180 million in FY 2010.

Community engagement also grew exponentially, as evidenced by record-breaking cash gifts received, a robust pipeline of new pledges and planned gifts, heightened volunteer leadership and engagement, and enhanced alumni and parent participation and outreach programs.  Milestones include:

• 267 volunteers in 19 communities actively engaged with Boldly Brown.
• 72% of those who gave $100,000 or more made their first major gift during the campaign; 24% of them were first-time donors.
• Average annual cash receipts increased by 111%.
• More than a dozen advisory councils and committees were created, fostering opportunities for alumni and parent participation in the life of the University.
• The Alumni of Color Initiative, which launched in January 2008, raised $5.5 million from 4,710 donors for endowed scholarships, Africana Studies, U.S. Latino Studies, the Third World Transition Program, and the Brown Annual Fund.

"This campaign is moving Brown forward in ways that were unimaginable 10 years ago," said Chancellor Tom Tisch '76. "As a community we've come together to provide support that is enabling us to transform Brown in very fundamental ways."