Allegheny College has successfully concluded the Our Allegheny: Our Third Century Quest fundraising campaign.
Save the date to join President Hilary L. Link for a virtual end-of-campaign celebration to mark this momentous occasion.
Monday, November 16, 2020
7:00 p.m. eastern time
Allegheny College Successfully Completes $202 Million Fundraising Campaign — the Largest in its 205-Year History
Allegheny College has completed the largest fundraising campaign in its 205-year history, raising more than $202 million in gifts and future commitments. Launched publicly during the college’s bicentennial celebration in 2015, the “Our Allegheny: Our Third Century Quest” campaign fulfilled its $200 million goal and broke all prior Allegheny fundraising records.
The campaign focused on building the college’s endowment and increasing annual support, including:
- More than $50 million in new scholarships to ensure access and improve affordability
- Nearly $37.5 million for faculty support to provide funds for professional development, visiting scholars and artists and student-faculty research, as well as 12 new professorships, supporting academic programs in global health, political science, interdisciplinary studies, economics, environmental science, art, geology, biology and more
- $30.2 million invested in the college’s historic campus, including renovations of Bentley Hall, Carr Hall, Carnegie Hall and athletic fields
- $7.5 million raised to enhance global learning and support internships and off-campus study
Individuals from 15,505 households participated in the campaign, with commitments ranging from $5 to more than $14 million. Foundations and corporations also contributed more than $33 million to the campaign through the many grants the college receives in support of institutional initiatives as well as the grants faculty receive in support of their research.
“Time and time again, our alumni, parents and friends have demonstrated their unyielding support for Allegheny, even in the most trying of times, as evidenced by record-setting giving to this historic $200 million campaign,” said Hilary L. Link, Ph.D., Allegheny president. “We send our deepest thanks for the many ways our supporters have expressed their confidence in Allegheny and their belief in our mission. Through their generosity, their advocacy and their involvement, they have shown the world that this is Our Allegheny, a place where academic rigor stands hand in hand with humanity and community, and where individuals are inspired to change the world.
“As we prepare to open campus to students for in-person learning this fall, we are investing in a number of ways related to the health crisis, including testing, technology and infrastructure,” Link added. “We can say in all honesty that, thanks to this foundation of support, Allegheny is in a stronger position today to withstand these and other challenges that lie ahead of us.”
Join The Quest For Our Allegheny
And, even more, for yourself. Because it is a quest that will give as much to its participants, in gratification and fulfillment, as it gives to the College in resources and opportunity.
Join the quest to…
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Discover the joy of giving back to the school that gave so much to you.
Allegheny’s current $230 million endowment was not built by people coaxed and cajoled into giving.
Rather, it was built by people who count their Allegheny gifts among their most rewarding life achievements.
Alleghenians whose lives were profoundly touched by members of the faculty, today gain special joy by endowing faculty chairs, in the name of a beloved professor, as living, breathing gifts that at once honor their faculty namesakes, while ensuring that successor faculty of the same extraordinary caliber will touch lives for generations to come.
“Allegheny helped me obtain the study skills and necessary determination to later graduate from a wonderful physician assistant program. My desire to help the underserved was fostered through the College’s community service department, and serving this population has since become my life. I want others to have the opportunities that I was blessed with at Allegheny.”
Celeste Lindahl Halcomb ‘05
“It’s wonderful to know that my gift has helped to ensure that Allegheny students for many years to come will benefit from extraordinary professors just as I did years ago. I can’t think of a more rewarding way to carry on the Allegheny tradition.”
Christine Scott Nelson ‘73
Who along with her husband, Carl,
established an endowed chair
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Help Allegheny Make The World A Better Place.
Allegheny always has been known for its academic rigor. But what has truly distinguished Allegheny through two centuries is that its rigor stands hand in hand with humanity and community. Allegheny is not just about nurturing great minds. It is about inspiring women and men to change the world.
That great legacy is on overdrive today. From community service in Meadville, to Peace Corps service in distant lands, today’s Allegheny students are on a mission of service like never before.
That is why, for so many alumni, a scholarship endowment is the most gratifying of Allegheny gifts. There are few life moments more rewarding than receiving the earnest thanks of an energized global citizen-student who is enjoying Allegheny’s life-changing experience through the scholarship you created.
2,000
Total Students
60,000
Hours of Community Service
of community service.
Think about that.
An average of 30 hours of community service per student.
Allegheny’s culture of service is reflected in its admissions policies.
At the heart of the College’s educational mission lies an ethos of access – an unflagging commitment to ensure that the most promising young scholars can increase and aspire to new heights because of the Allegheny experience – regardless of their families’ means.
The quest to expand our endowment will enable the College to expand its efforts to make the world a better place.
It will enable us to serve and attract ever more talented students who otherwise could not come to Allegheny.
It will support Allegheny’s strategic priority of further diversifying our campus, by every measure.
Allegheny has made great advances in creating a campus community that reflects the world we serve. Living and learning in this environment prepares Allegheny graduates to adapt to a changing and interdependent world – and helps to enhance their marketability to employers.
It will enable us to reduce student indebtedness.
It also will enable us to teach our students to serve the world – by sending them out into it.
Enhanced endowment funding will ensure that all students, regardless of financial means, can experience the transformative benefits of off-campus study opportunities.
“Many great colleges teach subjects, but they don’t always teach character. It’s a pleasure to be involved with a school which has taken that seriously for so many centuries and still does today.”
David Brooks
New York Times Columnist
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Write Your Family’s Legacy.
“The opportunity to give back to Allegheny and to help fund the construction of ‘The Vuk’ has been one of the most meaningful experiences of my life,” said Bob Vukovich ’65, trustee emeritus.
“The notion that the name my parents gave me will live on in that great building is a tremendously pleasing one to me.”
Whether it is a building, a brick, or something in between – many Allegheny donors use their gifts to help write for posterity their family stories.
“Allegheny was central to my father’s life,” said Kim Fleming, an Allegheny trustee and daughter of the late Bill Tillotson ’52.
“He learned here. He laughed here. And he met the love of his life here. To have a room named for him in the Tippie Alumni Center in Cochran Hall has brought my family together in moments that are always so joyful. They are a means to remember my father as he would most have wanted to be remembered – at Allegheny College.”
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Rejoin The Allegheny Community.
“My experience here taught me to think critically, and it exposed me to a real liberal arts education. It meant everything to me, and I want to give back to the College and to enable other students to experience the same thing.”
Some people look at endowment campaigns as burdens – but for the Allegheny family, they are opportunities to reconnect.
“Staying connected with Allegheny is the best thing that’s ever happened to me. It’s in my heart. People are missing out if they aren’t involved.”
Trustee Emerita Patricia B. Tippie ‘56
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Get The Highest Return On Your Philanthropic Dollar.
“For my wife, Joan, and myself, giving to Allegheny has always generated a high philanthropic return on investment.
As a trustee, I have seen how the College administration and faculty consistently squeeze the most value out of relatively limited resources, exemplifying best practices in stewardship. As alums and parents of alums, we know firsthand the difference Allegheny makes in people’s lives.”
Trustee Marty Pfinsgraff ’77
deputy comptroller for credit and market risk
in the U.S. Department of Treasury
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Endowment 101
en•dow•ment
(noun)
1. A large amount of money that has been given to a school, hospital, etc., and that is used to pay for its creation and continuing support.
— Webster’s
2. An investment fund set up by an institution in which regular withdrawals from the invested capital are used for ongoing operations or other specified purposes. Endowment funds are often used by nonprofits, universities, hospitals and churches. They are funded by donations, which are tax deductible for donors.
— Investopedia
How Allegheny Ranks
The College’s endowment was about $230 million as of June 2019. Colleges of lesser stature crave such a generous endowment. But compared to our closest competitors, Allegheny is lagging. Since endowment generates operating revenue and funds for scholarships, it puts Allegheny at a serious fiscal disadvantage when competing for the best and brightest students who may be seeking financial aid.
Regional Endowment Rank
The Envy Of Our Neighbors
| Allegheny | $230,452,902 |
| Washington and Jefferson | $142,088,893 |
| Grove City | $140,861,000 |
| Westminster | $117,063,369 |
| Saint Vincent | $113,406,673 |
| Gannon | $65,364,000 |
| Geneva | $44,714,345 |
Competitor Endowment Rank
Dwarfed By Our Competition
| Denison | $885,000,000 |
| Bucknell | $866,835,000 |
| Dickinson | $487,241,637 |
| Kenyon | $422,019,041 |
| Franklin and Marshall | $392,000,000 |
| Gettysburg | $335,973,800 |
| College of Wooster | $328,921,123 |
| Ohio Wesleyan | $242,256,175 |
| Allegheny | $230,452,902 |
| Juniata | $115,253,281 |
Endowment values as of June 30, 2019