{"id":148233,"date":"2022-08-26T08:48:50","date_gmt":"2022-08-26T12:48:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/?p=148233"},"modified":"2022-08-31T16:19:13","modified_gmt":"2022-08-31T20:19:13","slug":"bates-college-record-fundraising-campaign-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/2022\/08\/26\/bates-college-record-fundraising-campaign-success\/","title":{"rendered":"Exceeding goal, Bates College successfully ends record-setting campaign with gifts of $345.7 million"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Bates College raised a record-setting $345.7 million in gifts and pledges during its recently concluded fundraising campaign, announced President Clayton Spencer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Publicly launched in 2017 with a goal of $300 million, the Bates Campaign closed on June 30, 2022, with gifts and pledges totaling $345,745,082. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

More than 19,000 donors contributed to the effort, establishing successively higher Bates records for total annual giving in four of the five years of the campaign\u2019s public phase. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“The \u2018why\u2019 of the Bates Campaign has never been more self-evident \u2014 to support the success of our talented students who will do their part to make the world a better place,\u201d said President Spencer, seen at Commencement 2022 with Zoe Gallate, an American studies major, as they turn toward the Commencement photographer. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe owe the success of the Bates Campaign to the exceptional generosity of our alumni, parents, friends, faculty, staff, and students,\u201d said Spencer. \u201cToday, we are better resourced and equipped to broaden access to a Bates education and to offer a life-transforming experience for our students. With a new academic year before us, the \u2018why\u2019 of the Bates Campaign has never been more self-evident \u2014 to support the success of our talented students who will do their part to make the world a better place.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The most striking embodiment of the campaign\u2019s success was the construction of the new Bonney Science Center, a centerpiece of the college\u2019s $75 million investment to drive the evolution of science education and to transform the college\u2019s approach to STEM teaching and research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
The funding and opening of the new Bonney Science Center in fall 2021 is part of a $75 million investment to drive the evolution of science education at Bates. (Photography courtesy of Payette)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Opened in the fall of 2021, the Bonney Center was funded by a $50 million campaign gift, one of the largest monetary gifts ever to a Maine college, from the family foundation of Michael Bonney \u201980 and Alison Grott Bonney \u201980. Co-chair of the campaign and a chair of the Bates College Board of Trustees for nine years, Michael Bonney received an honorary degree from the college at this year\u2019s commencement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFive years ago we publicly announced the Bates Campaign with great conviction, firm in our shared belief that Bates and Bates graduates can help meet the challenges facing our nation and world,\u201d said Mike Bonney. \u201cThrough the generosity of our community, we have renewed hope and belief that Bates and Bates people are, and always will be, contributors of solutions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Phyllis
Etti Cooper \u201922 (left) and Ryan Bavis, Helen A. Papaioanou Professor of Biological Sciences, confer about her honors thesis research.
(Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Fellow trustees Geraldine FitzGerald \u201975 and John Gillespie \u201980 joined Bonney as campaign co-chairs. \u201cMike, Geri, and John were superb campaign co-chairs for so many reasons,\u201d Spencer said. \u201cBut I will emphasize two in particular \u2014 authenticity and ambition. Their love for Bates and their devotion to making us the best version of who we can be is genuine and compelling. When they talk about Bates, what they say is meaningful because it is ambitious, and it is real and true.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FitzGerald noted how, as an alumna approaching her 50th Reunion, \u201cit is not surprising, but as always, simply amazing how our community has once again powerfully come together during the Bates Campaign. When we kicked off the campaign five years ago, I knew that there was work ahead. But I also knew that as Bates alumni, we would find joy in our striving together \u2014 because we believe in Bates.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A member of the Board of Trustees since 2003, Gillespie succeeded Bonney as board chair in 2019. \u201cMy experience on the board, and now as its chair, has created a keen awareness that a successful Bates Campaign depended in large part on significantly increasing the college\u2019s permanent investments,\u201d he said. Including gifts to professorships, scholarship funds, and other new endowed funds, $138 million has been added to the college’s permanent endowment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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From left, Mike Bonney ’80, Geraldine FitzGerald \u201975, and John Gillespie \u201980 served as co-chairs of the Bates Campaign. “Their love for Bates and their devotion to making us the best version of who we can be is genuine and compelling,” said President Spencer. (Rene Roy for Bates College) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Bates Campaign was shaped by a college-wide institutional planning process in 2016, which produced a framework of priorities to guide Bates\u2019 institutional growth. The campaign’s resulting four priorities emphasized academics, facilities, financial aid, student programs, and endowment, raising the following amounts. <\/p>\n\n\n

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The Bates Campaign concluded June 30, 2022, with gifts and pledges of $345.7 million.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
Driving Academic Excellence<\/a><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Raised: $90,284,189.20<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Donor gifts funded the college\u2019s equity-driven plan to create an integrated system of science facilities. In addition to the opening of Bonney Science Center, a second component of the college\u2019s STEM investment is a complete renovation of Dana Hall<\/a>. A former chemistry building, Dana Hall reopens this academic year as the home of introductory education in biology and chemistry, also offering state-of-the-art general classrooms for use by all academic departments. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Donors also gave:<\/p>\n\n\n\n