MSU’s ‘What It Takes’ campaign raises more than $413 million for university’s people, places and programs

BOZEMAN — Montana State University’s comprehensive fundraising campaign, “What It Takes,” raised more than $413 million for the university’s people, places and programs, MSU officials announced today, making it the most successful fundraising campaign in Montana’s history.

The total is also well above the campaign’s original $300 million goal, which was met in October 2016, more than two years before the scheduled conclusion of the campaign. “What It Takes” was MSU’s first comprehensive fundraising campaign.

“We at Montana State University are overcome with gratitude for the many, many supporters who invested in our university,” said MSU President Waded Cruzado. “These generous donors pushed our campaign beyond all expectations and are helping to create a vibrant, sustainable and successful future for our campus.”

The campaign was publicly launched on Sept. 25, 2015, signaling the transition from what fundraisers call the quiet phase – which had started on July 1, 2010 – to the public phase. The campaign officially concluded on Dec. 31, 2018.

“The success of this campaign and the fruit it is bearing every day is a testament to just how critical private philanthropy is to the health and vitality of Montana State University and our land-grant mission,” said Chris Murray, president and CEO of the MSU Alumni Foundation. “It also powerfully illustrates that every gift, no matter how large or small, makes a difference, and how people, when inspired, will give their time, talent and treasure for the greater good. We are forever grateful for each and every one of them.”

Within its “What It Takes” theme, the campaign focused on three areas: people, places and programs.

Funds raised through the “people” part of the campaign are for scholarships and fellowships to increase access to a wider and more diverse range of students, Murray said. Those funds will also provide resources to help students academically once they arrive on campus with tutoring, mentoring, internships and other programs. Additionally, funds will help MSU recruit and retain the best faculty for its students and for its research and outreach mission.

The “places” part of the campaign focused on funds for classroom, laboratory and student support spaces needed to address the university’s record enrollment, as well as funds to support new teaching methods and technologies. When the campaign began its silent phase in 2010, MSU’s fall enrollment was 13,559. By fall 2018, when the campaign concluded, enrollment had grown to 16,902, marking 11 straight years of enrollment growth for the Bozeman campus.

The “programs” part of the campaign focused on funds to help students have more service-learning experiences and more community engagement and international education opportunities, with the aim of building student leadership skills while benefiting state, national and international communities.

Specific initiatives funded in each of those areas include the following:

People:

• $4.2 million from the Haynes Foundation to establish the Jack and Isabel Haynes Scholarship, providing general scholarships for Montana students
• $3.5 million gift from Nancy Cameron that provides endowments for three scholarship funds, a chair in animal and range sciences and a business professorship
• $1 million from Don and Sue Fisher for a professorship in early childhood education
• $500,000 from an anonymous donor for the Fraternity and Sorority Leadership initiative
• $300,000 to fund student teacher scholarships

Places:

• $50 million from Norm Asbjornson for a new home for the engineering college and the South Campus Project
• $25 million from Jake Jabs for a new home for the business college
• $20 million from numerous supporters for the South Campus Project, including $6 million from Tim and Mary Barnard and $4 million from Bill Wurst
• $12 million from the Kendeda Fund, $2 million from ASMSU and $1 million each from Jim and Chris Scott and the Terry and Patt Payne family for the American Indian Hall
• $8 million from Greg and Susan Gianforte for the Gianforte School of Computing and the South Campus Project
• $6 million from numerous donors to expand and renovate Bobcat Stadium
• $1 million from an anonymous donor for track and field improvements

Programs:

• $3 million from Jake Jabs for entrepreneurship programs in the business college
• $2 million from Risa Scott for a new ranch management program in the College of Agriculture
• $650,000 for the Veteran Support Center and scholarships for veteran students
• $570,000 from Ken Wilson and Ann Jackson for Writing Across the Curriculum program
• A gift from Carol Doig to support the MSU Library, the Doig Archives and the new Ivan Doig Center for the Study of the Lands and Peoples of the North American West

Cruzado said the gifts are already fueling successes.

“Montana State University’s inspirational supporters, with their incredible gifts, are transforming every corner of this university,” she said. “Their support will allow the students, faculty and staff of Montana’s land-grant university to help create smarter, healthier communities, building a better Montana and shaping the future of the nation and the world.”

More information is available at whatittook.org/.

- By Anne Cantrell, MSU News Service -