Monmouth College's 'Light This Candle Campaign' Smashes Its $75 Million Goal, Raises a Record $80.1 Million

Successes include more student scholarships, support for faculty innovation, enhancements to living-learning environment and twice as many deferred commitments to the College.

by Duane Bonifer

MONMOUTH, Ill. (02/14/2023) — Monmouth College has completed a record-setting campaign that will help set the College's course throughout the rest of the decade.

The College's Light This Candle Campaign, which was launched publicly in March 2019, had a goal of raising $75 million to expand scholarships and student financial aid and support for academic programs. When the Campaign was completed on Dec. 31, 2022, a total of $80,138,129.78 had been raised -- making it the biggest and most successful campaign in the history of the 170-year-old liberal arts college.

"It is with great pleasure that I announce that the Monmouth College Light This Candle Campaign has raised over $80 million in current and deferred gifts, exceeding our original goal of $75 million by more than 6%," said William Goldsborough '65, national Campaign chair. "The overarching objective of the Campaign was to ensure the future of Monmouth College so it can continue to be an institution committed to helping our students reach their full potential, both in their careers and in service to their communities. Monmouth College remains, and will always be, a special place with a caring, dedicated faculty and staff where our students make lifelong friends."

Goldsborough said that Monmouth achieved a record-setting campaign "only through the generous and engaged base of alumni and friends of the College."

"A special note of appreciation goes to our vice president for development and college relations, Hannah Maher, and her staff for helping the College set this record," he said.

Lighting four candles

Monmouth President Clarence R. Wyatt said the record-setting Campaign was made possible thanks to hard work and outstanding leadership of many people.

"On behalf of the students and the families this Campaign will support, I am profoundly grateful to all of the donors to the Campaign and to all the people of Monmouth College who inspired their generosity," said Wyatt. "I particularly want to thank Campaign Chair Bill Goldsborough, Board of Trustees Chair Mark Kopinski and the entire Board, and Vice President for Development and College Relations Hannah Maher and her staff for their leadership, energy and hard work."

The Light This Candle Campaign included four objectives: increase scholarships and student financial aid; create more opportunities for faculty and staff support and academic innovation; enhance the College's living-learning environment by increasing funds for facilities; and build an even stronger culture of philanthropy through a larger annual fund and deferred gift register.

Monmouth Board of Trustees Chair Mark Kopinski '79 said it is impressive that Monmouth lit all four candles, especially because the Campaign persisted through a worldwide pandemic and "it was not a brick-and-mortar campaign focused on buildings."

"The goals of non-brick-and-mortar campaigns tend to be the most difficult to achieve, although they are critically important to the long-term health of a college," he said. "The Monmouth community clearly understood the importance of supporting each of the Campaign's candles and the role they play in charting the College's future."

Campaign's impact across the College

Wyatt credited the College's strong sense of mission and a clear strategic plan as major factors that contributed to the Campaign's remarkable success.

"Monmouth College has a powerful focus on its mission -- to change for the better the arc of its students' lives, a mission that generations of Monmouth faculty and staff have carried out with great devotion," said Wyatt. "That devotion moved alumni, families and friends of the College to graciously share their resources to ensure that succeeding generations of students benefit from that experience. The College's strategic planning process identified clear actions to pursue that mission even more effectively, and these actions shaped the objectives of the Campaign. Together, these factors inspired the extraordinary confidence and generosity made manifest in the Campaign's success."

Examples of the Campaign's successes include adding more than $11 million to more than 120 student scholarships, awards, travel funds and internships; more than $5 million for faculty support and academic innovation; and more than $14 million to enhance the College's living-learning environment.

Funds were given to establish or expand endowments in theatre, global engagement, Classics Day, the Rural Teacher Initiative, an annual lecture in agriculture and a program to develop junior faculty. New academic programs were started in data science, engineering, health science and human movement, and neuroscience.

The College also renovated one of its iconic residence halls, restored a historic pipe organ, resurfaced its tennis courts, and added a stunning amphitheater, labyrinth and terrace to the central campus.

The College's culture of philanthropy expanded by more than $28 million, which included support for the Monmouth Fund, Fighting Scots Society, and the Champion Miller Fund for Student Equity, Inclusion & Community.

The College also doubled the total amount of its deferred commitments by adding more than $21 million to its gift registry.

Navigating challenges

"The Campaign's many successes signify the College's ability to generate resources to navigate the challenges we are all facing in higher education right now," said Maher. "Our deferred gift registry nearly doubled in size through the duration of the Campaign, and we saw tremendous growth in leadership level annual fund support as well."

Wyatt said the Campaign's true success will be realized "over the coming years" by the graduates the College will send into the world to make a difference.

"Tremendous as the dollar totals are and impressive as is the list of objectives supported by those dollars, the true success of the Campaign will be written over the coming years, in how our students and alumni make the world a better place through their lives of service, leadership and achievement," he said. "American higher education faces tremendous challenges and changes, and Monmouth College is not immune. But because of the Light This Candle Campaign, and all that it signifies and all that it makes possible, Monmouth faces these times with great confidence.

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