Santa Clara Fundraises $1 Billion

With $1 billion raised in 10 years, Santa Clara’s recent fundraising campaign has already begun to finance new construction developments for seven key on-campus buildings, and plans are in order to fund future academic initiatives and increase the availability of scholarships.

$400 million has been spent on changes to campus buildings, the cause of drastic improvements, according to Vice President for University Relations Jim Lyons.

“You wouldn’t see it as you walk around campus, but our campus looks very different now than it did 10 years ago,” Lyons said.

Notable campus improvements include the addition of the 270,000 square foot John A. and Susan Sobrato Campus for Discovery and Innovation building (SCDI), the renovation of residence halls, the creation of the Dowd building and updates to the law school and athletic facilities.

While campus alterations were made possible by the campaign, funding the construction of new buildings took away from funding items that directly impact faculty and students, Lyons said.

“You know, the buildings are nice,” Lyons said. “What’s important is not the building itself, but it's what takes place in the buildings, in the classrooms.”

A main pillar of the Innovating with a Mission campaign was student scholarships, but at its 10-year mark, more money has gone to campus infrastructure than scholarships.

“As a Jesuit university, there's very much that commitment to try and help people if they have the academic ability, regardless of their economic situation, to be able to come to Santa Clara,” Lyons said.

In future campaigns, he and his team plan on raising funds for student services, mental health initiatives, the Multicultural Center and the athletics department.

“If you think about building a house, the Innovating with a Mission campaign was the foundation,” Lyons said. “The next campaign, which we’ll go into within the next couple of years, will be the one that actually builds the house. It will be–surprisingly enough–even more important than this one.”

President Julie Sullivan says her board is already envisioning how their new strategic plan, “SCU Impact 2030,” approved Feb. 9, can align with the next fundraising campaign. After deciding to emphasize expanding education access, Sullivan says her team wants to raise an additional $500 million for scholarships beyond the $280 million raised in the previous campaign.

“We’ll start working towards the goal to ensure all talented students can come to Santa Clara regardless of their financial means,” Sullivan said. “We want to expand our LEAD [Leadership, Excellence, and Academic Development Scholars] Program because we expect to have more first-generation students.”

Sullivan says the strategic plan’s other main initiative is to invest in faculty. The board aims to raise $150 million in funds for endowed chair titles, which, according to Sullivan, both retain and attract strong faculty and scholars.

“One of our priorities is to strengthen this teacher-scholar model, to continue to support our faculty growing in their teaching as well as their research,” Sullivan said.

During the pandemic, the “Innovating with a Mission” campaign was almost cut short, according to Lyons. As the sole person tasked with deciding whether or not to continue the campaign, he had many sleepless nights.

“I’d wake up at 3 a.m. thinking, ‘where am I going to get $309,000 today?’” Lyons said. “It takes about 18 months for a donor to make a significant commitment, and having those conversations online was very hard.”

The campaign persevered, however. Having served since the inception of the campaign nine and a half years ago, Sullivan says Lyons was well suited for understanding what donors and supporters want to invest in because of his familiarity with the Santa Clara Community.

With 80% of received donations being $1000 or less, Sullivan views the fundraising campaign’s grassroots success as a reflection of the Santa Clara community.

“Our community values the work that is being done at Santa Clara, and wants to walk alongside us in investing in it and making it happen,” Sullivan said. “It’s a huge signal of the overwhelming support we have from so many of our donors, friends and alumni that believe in what we are doing.”

Among the 46,000 donors, students also contributed to the campaign, even while still in attendance at Santa Clara.

“Thousands of students made gifts in their junior and senior years,” Lyons said. “You're a junior or senior, you're paying this outrageous tuition and can't even eat, much less pay tuition, but then you also give $25 just because it matters to you.”

Sullivan felt humbled and inspired after hearing Santa Clara reached the milestone. Only around 3% of universities nationwide have raised this much money before, and Santa Clara is the fourth Catholic institution to reach this hallmark.

“We have such a strong community that believes in what we’re doing, and they want to work with us to continue reaching new horizons,” Sullivan said. “The milestone is another signal of our national prominence as a Jesuit Catholic University, and it is a great springboard for us to continue to build strength.”