Campaign aimed toward future projects
Fundraising plans already raised $50 million
By Raul Martinez
Staff Reporter

Two hundred and fifty alumni and top donors have been interviewed by University Advancement officials to help further plans for the largest fund-raising campaign in TCU history, said Bronson Davis, vice chancellor for University Advancement.

Davis said TCU’s largest fund-raising campaign could reach a goal of $200 million to $300 million in the next six years.

Although the campaign is only in its second year of planning, Davis said the university has already raised $50 million.

Davis said the total amount the campaign will generate is not yet determined.

“We will not fix on an exact goal until the spring of 2003,” Davis said. “At the moment, we are testing $230 million dollars, but we would love to end up with $300 million.”

The money already raised from the campaign is being used for the construction of the Tucker Technology Center and the Lupton Baseball Stadium, the renovation of the University Recreation Center and other various projects.

Nancy Petruso, assistant vice chancellor for university advancement, said the university will have many specific projects for the campaign.

“A lot of the money will go into building projects, professorships, scholarships and financial aid,” said Petruso. “There is also a possibility of a multi-purpose athletic facility, but that will not be discussed for at least another year.”

Before the fund-raising campaign is made public, the Board of Trustees will meet Jan. 24 for a workshop to discuss the project.

Petruso said Chancellor Michael Ferrari will attend the workshop to talk about what the university wants to do with this campaign.

“The chancellor is going to meet with the board and discuss what our main priorities might be for the fundraiser,” said Petruso. “It is still a work in progress, but he is still going to present to them what our thinking is now and get their reaction to it.”

University officials will soon solicit donations from their top 100 prospects including alumni, members of the Board of Trustees, and other specific individuals.

Davis said due to the Sept. 11 attacks, university officials are afraid they will not receive as much money as they had hoped.

“A lot of damage has been done by the attacks because of the rather dramatic downturn in the stock market during the last year,” said Davis. “A lot of our prospects do not have the depreciated assets the way they used to.”

Davis said along with the setbacks, the university still has a lot of work to do.

“We do not know if we will ever get to $230 million, but you never know until you get out there and start asking,” he said.

Raul Martinez
R.martinez@student.tcu.edu

TCU Daily Skiff © 2002