The UA is launching the biggest fundraising campaign in its history on the UA Mall this Friday.
The goal of the campaign is to raise $1 billion over the next eight years to support students, faculty, innovative programming and new facilities, according to James H. Moore, president of the UA Foundation.
Gifts from donors will be managed by the UA Foundation and used to fund goals laid out in the UA’s “Never Settle” strategic plan, Moore said. “Never Settle” is the title of a strategic plan created by the UA to meet goals set by the Arizona Board of Regents. Some of these goals include increased retention rates, enrollment and research expenditures.
“The strategic plan that is in place now allows our donor community to understand how they can invest in things they are passionate about,” Moore said, “but also how those very same passions fit into the university’s strategic framework.”
With unreliable state funding and the cost of higher education continuing to grow, the UA will rely far more on private donations to move forward, Moore said, and he hopes the launch of this campaign will encourage new and former donors to make donations.
“The campaign is an opportunity to really promote the impact that philanthropy has on the university,” Moore said. “We really want this to be a campaign that students can feel like they can be a part of as well.”
Stephanie Balzer, communications director for the UA Foundation, said that the kickoff for the fundraiser this Friday afternoon will include a series of lectures, tours and an interactive expo on the Mall. The Expo of Excellence will give prospective donors a chance to meet the professors and graduate students who work and study at the UA, and will showcase special projects from different colleges on campus, Balzer said. The expo will include demonstrations of a 3-D printer, a solar car and collaborative poetry.
UA faculty, such as researchers and professors, will give talks in their field of expertise and tours of campus facilities like the Arizona State Museum and Flandrau Science Center and Planetarium. Subjects for talks include autism, new media and the power of historical poetry.
The event will also mark the launch of the UA’s new brand, said Teresa Thompson, vice president for University Relations. She said that the brand will be used in marketing tools and advertising materials to draw in the public. The hope is that the new brand, a platform the UA will use to present consistent goals and values, will attract more students, faculty and research opportunities to the UA.
The tagline of the brand is “Bigger questions. Better answers. Bear down.”
The expo will culminate in a public announcement of the campaign’s launch by UA President Ann Weaver Hart. The announcement will be followed by a performance from the band American Authors, signaling the beginning of the annual ASUA carnival Spring Fling.
