Rockefeller fundraising breaks new record

by Eva Kiesler, managing editor

It’s been a year of tremendous progress at Rockefeller. In 2015, we welcomed six new faculty members, most recently immunologist Gabriel Victora and biological physicist Alipasha Vaziri; began construction of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation—David Rockefeller River Campus; and acquired transformative research technology, such as our new Evelyn Gruss Lipper Cryo-Electron Microscopy Resource Center.

These and many other developments were catalyzed by soaring philanthropy, as fundraising achievements reached unprecedented levels. In June 2015—the end of our previous fiscal year—the Campaign for Transforming Biomedicine, a nine-year fundraising initiative now in its fifth year, had raised a total of $677 million, as shown in the above infographic. The strong momentum is continuing in fiscal year 2016. Since July 1, the university has received new commitments totaling $64M, for an overall total of $741M raised as of this week. 

With four years left to go, the ongoing fundraising effort has already surpassed its forerunner, the Campaign for Collaborative Science, which raised $628M during a seven-year period.

When the current campaign was launched, in 2012, it was focused on addressing programmatic needs. But this past spring, the university’s Trustees voted to increase the campaign fundraising goal from $600M to $940M to launch construction of the River Campus. Three extraordinary gifts received in fiscal year 2015 ensured that construction on the expanded campus could begin.

Unparalleled generosity

The Stavros Niarchos Foundation and Honorary Chairman and Life Trustee David Rockefeller made twin leadership gifts of $75 million each to name the new campus. The Marie-Josée and Henry R. Kravis Foundation donated $100 million—the second $100 million gift in the university’s history, following David Rockefeller’s $100 million bequest commitment in 2006—to create the Marie-Josée and Henry R. Kravis Research Building.

Other major gifts in Fiscal Year 2015 included $15 million from the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust—the foundation’s second $15 million gift to fund research on digestive diseases at Rockefeller. The university also received three $10 million gifts and six $5 million gifts.

“While these largest gifts are spectacular and greatly appreciated, every gift is a generous affirmation of the promising future of The Rockefeller University,” says Marnie Imhoff, senior vice president for development.

“At Rockefeller, the world’s top scientists are encouraged to pursue their science wherever it leads them,” says Board Chair Russell L. Carson. “The funds raised in this campaign will enable Rockefeller to continue to provide scientists with the unique collaborative environment that is the university’s hallmark and which has been proven to push science to new spheres of knowledge and discovery, leading to new ways to prevent and treat disease.”