At a glance
One of the largest capital campaigns ever at a SUNY College of Technology, Alfred State College has announced that it has exceeded its $3.4M Centennial Campaign goal by over 100%. At campaign’s end, the College had raised cash and pledges of over $7.5M. The three-year campaign, timed to coincide with the College’s hundredth birthday in 2008, concluded on June 30, 2009, with a preliminary total of $7,564,472 raised.
One of the largest capital campaigns ever at a SUNY College of Technology, Alfred State College has announced that it has exceeded its $3.4M Centennial Campaign goal by over 100%. At campaign’s end, the College had raised cash and pledges of over $7.5M. The three-year campaign, timed to coincide with the College’s hundredth birthday in 2008, concluded on June 30, 2009, with a preliminary total of $7,564,472 raised.
“The support of our alumni and friends was overwhelming,” said President John Anderson, the 11th president of the College. “Although I returned to the College just over a year ago, I had previously worked here for 22 years, and I knew the depth and breadth of the support for the College. Our graduates know that the education we offer is simply the best for the tuition anywhere. I’d like to thank all of our supporters for this generous and humbling show of support.”
Primarily, the money and pledges raised were to fund the new Construction Workforce Development Center at the Wellsville Campus of Applied Technology, and to expand the capabilities of the agriculture programs on the Alfred campus.
Perhaps most surprising is the makeup of the donor pool. “The most remarkable thing about this success story is that we didn’t just do it with one or two large private gifts, as so often happens in campaigns,” said Dan Barwick, director of development at Alfred State. “In a time of economic downturn, our supporters rose to the challenge, dollar by dollar, donor by donor.”
“You have to give a lot of credit to our employees and especially to our Institutional Advancement office,” said Anderson. “They designed the campaign around our centennial and implemented it.” Barwick adds, “A plan is just a plan; what we have here at Alfred State is a group of people who did the work of implementation, and an overwhelming group of donors who know the value of Alfred State and want to see that value expand. We began this campaign with a modest $3.4M goal and no permanent president. But we couldn’t let our centennial pass without giving supporters a chance to give back to the college that gave so much to them, and I knew that when a permanent president arrived, this campaign would give that leader a running start. President Anderson came in and did more than run – he and other campus leaders absolutely committed themselves, and we made tremendous progress.”
The College is seeing unprecedented fundraising success in general – the 2008-2009 fiscal year saw the largest single year total of private support for the College. Said Anderson, “New York State faces unprecedented economic challenges, and Alfred State College is in a position to play a major role in the revitalization of the economy of the state and the region. The types of graduates Alfred State produces are exactly the kind of people the state needs to hit the ground running in “shovel-ready” construction and infrastructure projects, manufacturing and green technologies, agribusiness, and healthcare. Additionally, Alfred State primarily produces graduates who remain in the state, with 99% of job-seeking graduates employed immediately upon graduation, buying homes, paying property taxes, and supporting their local economies. As we rise to meet the current economic challenge, Alfred State College will emerge as the engine of our recovery.”