Pitt’s Building Our Future Together Campaign exceeds $2 billion goal

UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH NEWS RELEASE

PITTSBURGH  (October 12, 2012) ... The University of Pittsburgh has exceeded its goal of raising $2 billion through its Building Our Future Together capital campaign, the largest and most successful fundraising initiative in the history of Western Pennsylvania, Pitt Chancellor Mark A. Nordenberg announced to an audience of alumni, faculty, staff, students, and friends in the J.W. Connolly Ballroom of Pitt's Alumni Hall at 3:30 p.m. today, Oct. 12. More than 182,000 donors contributed to this remarkable campaign success. Chancellor Nordenberg's announcement was part of the University's 225th anniversary Homecoming celebration, the largest Homecoming in Pitt's history. 

When the campaign was announced in October 2000, its goal was $500 million. In 2002, after that goal was reached, it was doubled, to $1 billion. And in 2007, after $1 billion had been raised, the campaign goal was doubled again, to $2 billion. The Building Our Future Together campaign now has raised $2.047 billion, more than eight times the $251 million raised in the University's largest prior fundraising initiative, the Campaign for the Third Century, which was launched during Pitt's 1987 Bicentennial. 

"Exceeding our record-setting $2 billion campaign goal is a momentous milestone made possible by the extraordinary generosity of University supporters, who have demonstrated their commitment to Pitt and its longstanding mission of building better lives through the power of education and research," said Chancellor Nordenberg. "More important than that extraordinarily large dollar amount is the impact that these funds will have-on the lives of our hard-working and high-achieving students, on the ambitious and often trailblazing work of our world-class faculty, and on the economic strength and vibrancy of our home region. These well-targeted investments in Pitt will help ensure the bright future of an institution whose long and proud 225-year history already spans two complete centuries and parts of two others. The entire University community is deeply grateful to each and every one of our donors.

...The campaign attracted gifts of such historic size that they led to the naming of two key schools in honor of their benefactors, the John A. Swanson School of Engineering and the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, named to recognize the father of the late Trustee and donor William S. Dietrich. The campaign also enabled Pitt to construct buildings that physically transformed all five of our campuses. Some of the best-known construction projects are here in Pittsburgh, including the John M. and Gertrude E. Petersen Events Center, the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine, the William R. Baierl Student Recreation Center, the James J. and Helene Barco Duratz Football Complex, the John J. Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation, and the Petersen Sports Complex. Examples of campaign-supported new construction at other campuses include Blaisdell Hall and the Harriet Wick Chapel at Pitt-Bradford; the Campana Chapel and Lecture Hall at Pitt-Greensburg; and the Broadhurst Science Center at Pitt-Titusville. With the help of donors, the University also restored and renovated a large number of buildings, cleaned and repaired the exterior of the Cathedral of Learning, and accepted the unique and exceptional gift of what now is known as the Allen L. Cook Spring Creek Preserve, consisting of 6,000 acres of fossil-rich land in Wyoming.

Click here to read the full news release.

###