Alumni, friends and business partners made 2012 the second-biggest fundraising year ever at South Dakota State University, with $47.5 million in gifts and pledges.
Construction on the Architecture, Math and Engineering building is also scheduled to begin in the summer of 2013. To date, $6.1 million of private support has been secured. Another $900,000 is needed.
That pushed total commitments for It Starts with STATE: A Campaign for South Dakota State University to $224.8 million by December 31, 2012. The six-year campaign had a goal of $200 million – which was four times more than the goal for the university’s only previous campaign.
Gifts and pledges made by April 24, 2013 will be included in the final campaign total, which will be unveiled at campus celebrations planned for April 25 and 26. It is already the largest higher-education fundraising campaign in South Dakota history.
Sanford Health provided the leadership gift for the Indoor Practice and Human Performance Center. Pending final legislative approval, construction would begin this summer.
“It speaks volumes about the loyalty and generosity of our supporters that the final year of the campaign would produce that level of giving,†said Steve Erpenbach, President and CEO of the SDSU Foundation, the organization leading the university’s campaign. “More than 22,300 different donors have contributed throughout the course of this six-year campaign. Ten percent of those gave their first campaign gift in 2012 alone.â€
The biggest fundraising year ever was in 2008, when $52.6 million was committed.
The two largest fundraising years on record (2008 and 2012) have more in common: Both were highlighted by eight-figure investments from the two regional hospital systems based in Sioux Falls in support of signature building projects at SDSU — Avera Health for the Avera Health and Science Center in 2008; Sanford Health for the Indoor Practice and Human Performance Center in 2012. Avera and Sanford are both significant employers of SDSU graduates in health-science fields.
Avera Health was the signature investor for the Avera Health and Science Center, which was dedicated in September 2010.
In the closing weeks of the campaign, an emphasis is being placed on reaching fundraising goals that will allow two major building projects to begin this summer.
The Foundation and Athletic Department are working to secure another $4 million in order to begin construction on the $30 million Indoor Practice and Human Performance Center north of Coughlin-Alumni Stadium this summer. Another $900,000 in private support is needed for the $17 million Architecture, Math and Engineering building.
While the campaign concludes in April and ends one of the most-prolific growth periods in university history, Erpenbach said SDSU’s new six-year strategic plan, Impact 2018, will rely on continued support from the alumni, friends and corporate partners responsible for the record total for It Starts with STATE.
It Starts with STATE: By the Numbers
47.5 – Millions of new dollars raised in 2012
2,347 – First-time campaign donors in 2012
332 – New annually funded scholarships added during campaign
1,622 – First-time ever donors in 2012
15 – Capital projects completed with private funds during campaign
