DREAM REALIZED: President Steen announced the successful completion of the Imagine a Way Campaign on the last day of her presidency, June 30, 2015.
When former PSU president Sara Jayne Steen was a teenager in northern Ohio, her working-class parents were determined that their academically gifted daughter would attend college. Sitting at their kitchen table discussing how they would achieve that goal, Steen’s mother encouraged the family to ‘imagine a way’ to find the money. Now, decades later, those hopeful words have evolved into a $30 million fundraising campaign that is the largest in Plymouth State’s history. Steen initiated the Imagine a Way campaign in 2007, and the University celebrated the campaign’s successful conclusion with a June 30 ceremony on the final day of her nine-year tenure.
“Together, with generous donors, alumni, and friends of PSU, we have ‘imagined a way’ to take the University to the next level,” Steen said at the ceremony in the lobby of historic Mary Lyon Hall.
Funds raised through the Imagine a Way comprehensive campaign will positively impact PSU, now and in the future. Funding priorities were:
- increasing scholarships, fellowships and stipends for students;
- attracting, retaining and rewarding the best faculty and staff;
- enhancing campus facilities; and
- building sustainable annual support.
“Increased support for students was the institutional need that resonated most with donors,” according to Steen. Forty-eight percent, or $14.5 million, of the campaign total was given or pledged for undergraduate and graduate student scholarships. This figure includes $9.7 million in support directly to PSU students, primarily through organizations such as the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation, the single largest scholarship donor in the campaign.
The largest bequest intention in PSU’s history was received from friends Dick and Betty Hanaway. Endowment gifts combined with current use operating support totaled 29 percent of the $30.2 million campaign total.
“The Imagine a Way campaign was critical to building a strong foundation for a sustainable Annual Fund that directly impacts PSU’s annual budget,” according to Samuel Wisel ’12, who directed the Annual Fund in the last two years of the campaign and is now a major gift officer. “It’s very encouraging that more and more alumni donors are understanding the need for operating support and stepping forward with a gift to the Annual Fund.”
The Active Living, Learning and Wellness (ALLWell) Center is the centerpiece of PSU’s capital improvements supported by Imagine a Way donors. Alumni, parents, and friends of the University committed $3.7 million in private support for ALLWell’s first phase, the Ice Arena and Savage Welcome Center, and another $870,000 toward a $1.5 million goal for private support of the second, the ALLWell North facility opening in October 2015. In total, more than $4.7 million was given toward capital improvements on campus since 2007.
“Private support is essential to build new facilities, maintain and expand high quality programs, and ensure student success regardless of their ability to pay,” noted Paula Lee Hobson, vice president of university advancement. “This is especially true at Plymouth State where state funding provides less than six percent of our annual budget.”
While alumni have long supported Plymouth State with charitable gifts, Wally Stevens ’62 was among a small group that organized the President’s Council to assist Plymouth State with strategic fundraising and expansion of the donor base during the Expanding Our Reach campaign. “I’m tremendously proud that my alma mater has reached a $30 million milestone in fundraising under the leadership of Sara Jayne Steen,” he commented. “Imagine a Way shows that Plymouth State is worthy of support and very conscientious in stewarding of our gifts.”
“Fundraising campaigns are not only about the dollars raised. They are about catapulting forward the institution’s mission and vision,” explained Hobson. “The success of Imagine a Way and the extraordinary generosity of our donors has beautifully illustrated the power of private support at PSU.” – Laure Morris
Tags: campaign fundraising Hanaway Imagine A Way Paula Lee Hobson President Steen President's Council Sam Wisel Sara Jayne Steen scholarships Wally Stevens
