MADISON BLASZ
Special to The Leader
Planning for the Nurturing Innovation Campaign started in 2014. Seven years — and $24 million later — it is complete.
At SUNY Fredonia, the Nurturing Innovation campaign was created to help raise funds to keep the university affordable while exploring how to further educate students.
According to the Nurturing Innovation campaign mission, “Fredonia educates, challenges and inspires students to become skilled, connected, creative and responsible global citizens and professionals. The university enriches the world through scholarship, artistic expression, community engagement and entrepreneurship.”
SUNY Fredonia started campaign fundraising in 2014, going public with a $20 million goal in 2017.
Betty Gossett, the executive director of the Fredonia College Foundation and the interim vice president of University Advancement, said, “After a great deal of input, we identified five forward-looking priorities: student access (scholarships), experiential learning, learning spaces, exceptional faculty and unrestricted gifts.”
“When we launched, we knew this would be our most ambitious, comprehensive campaign in Fredonia’s history. We experienced an amazing outpouring of support throughout the campaign,” Gossett said.
The Nurturing Innovation campaign was a success, raising over $24.5 million, exceeding its goal by more than 20 percent.
Gossett said she attributes this outcome to the dedication of alumni, friends of the university, local businesses, organizations and an enthusiastic and committed team, all who want to see SUNY Fredonia and its students thrive.
This campaign received 52,850 individual gifts to help SUNY Fredonia.
According to The Statement, a university publication, “21,451 individual gifts were made by 3,628 alumni and 21,264 individual gifts were made by 385 faculty and staff.”
So how is the money handled and disseminated?
Gossett said that some funds go directly to the intended purpose, while other funds are endowed and allowed to grow so they’re available in the future. That is how many scholarships are funded.
“Those funds are generally restricted for a designated purpose and the foundation allocates spending from those funds each year,” said Gossett.
“In addition, many donors have invested in Fredonia by designating the campus in their estate plans. These gifts benefit our university far into the future.”
There are many students who have received scholarships through campaigns like this.
Josh Velasco, a third-year biochemistry major with a leadership studies minor, has received multiple scholarships, including the SUNY Fredonia Keeper of the Dream Scholarship.
Velasco said, “The KOD scholarship program emphasizes student leadership, scholarship, a commitment to multiculturalism and embodying the Fredonia spirit on campus. It was a rigorous process and I was fortunately picked as one of the three recipients for the incoming class of 2022.”
Velasco has also received other scholarships, including the Steele Family Merit Scholarship in Science, the Dean’s Scholar Award, the James D. Burdick Memorial Physics Scholarship and the Subra Pendyala Physics Faculty Award.
Ecstatic and overjoyed, Velasco said, “All of these scholarships have significantly aided me financially and I truly appreciate that.”
The Keeper of The Dream Scholarship program helped Velasco connect with a network of scholars.
He said, “I get to form genuine friendships with opportunities to network within the Fredonia community and be surrounded with like-minded scholars despite being in different majors.”
Gossett made it clear that students are the key to telling the Fredonia story.
“Our donors love to hear from students,” she said.
“Those connections are what keep alumni engaged and continuing to support Fredonia with their resources. We would love to find more ways to include students in connecting with donors and helping us with our fundraising efforts. Everyone’s ideas are welcome.”
This campaign has helped Fredonia and its students in a variety of ways.
If you are fortunate to have benefitted from a scholarship, it’s important to thank the benefactor who made it possible, who love to hear how their help made a difference.
There are so many students who came before us that care about us as students, our experience and our success.
“We see that in our everyday work and the success of this campaign was proof of that,” said Gossett.