Cash campaign
Fund raising a principal concern
Administrators say the current fund-raising campaign will encounter difficulties in part because of a weak economy. Despite this, the university will campaign to meet the largest goal in TCU history.
By Colleen Casey
News Editor

The current $230 million fund-raising campaign is the most ambitious in the university’s history, but its progress relies on donors’ confidence in the weak economy and the next chancellor, said Bronson Davis, vice chancellor for university advancement.

Although it may take longer to raise funds because of the decline in the stock market, Davis said he’s not concerned with how long it will take to raise funds toward the current working goal.

The campaign remains in the quiet stage, while planning and researching continue. Davis said it won’t be publicly announced until the Board of Trustees are confident enough with the economy to begin solicitation.

“We’re trying to see how this works and see what our top donors say,” Davis said. “It may take longer, but we’re seeing what kind of response we get in the marketplace.”
The planning stages will end when Chancellor Michael Ferrari retires in May. The new chancellor will then have the opportunity to evaluate the goals, and the campaign could start next fall. Davis said the next chancellor is key to the campaign, which could last up to seven years.

This campaign is only the second in TCU history with a similarly ambitious goal. The national campaign in 1992 and raised $120 million, $20 million more than the intended goal.

“(A high goal) has a more dramatic impact,” Davis said. “It may attract the best people because it’s large.”

Because of the low stock market, Ferrari said that if the economy doesn’t pick up until the third or fourth quarter of 2003, then reworking the campaign goals will be up to the next chancellor.

But he did say he is pleased the university has raised more than $72 million since July 1 for planning and donor research. The money will go toward part of the campaign’s total goal.

In the last campaign, the chancellor and provost established the university’s priorities, but this year’s goals are much more detailed. Previous campaigns were centralized, and didn’t let each college or school offer their perspectives. With a different structure this year, each college or school at TCU came up with their own plans for development.

Davis said the campaign will conclude with more unmet goals because there are more priorities to attend to, but that more projects will probably raise more money overall.

Money raised in the campaign’s next stage will go towards meeting the priorities of the colleges and schools and about $4.5 million will go into the general operating budget.

Colleen Casey