Campaign Emory is part of the University’s long tradition of private investment that began in 1914, when Coca-Cola founder Asa Candler moved Emory from Oxford to Atlanta with an investment of $1 million and 72 acres of land. From that first major gift from Candler, who was the brother of former Emory president Warren Candler, other long-standing relationships and private gifts have transformed Emory’s people, programs, and places in remarkable ways. Emory has been a good steward of those investments. Robert W. Woodruff—and after his death, the Woodruff Foundation—provided transformational support, helping Emory advance as a leader in education, research, patient care, and community service.
With this success comes the responsibility to do more, to bring even greater intellectual resources to bear on the world’s most daunting challenges. Today the growing number of gifts from alumni, friends, and grateful patients has set the stage for Campaign Emory, which is a direct response to this call for action. Campaign Emory is the most ambitious fundraising effort in the University’s history. Of the campaign’s $1.6 billion goal, a significant portion will increase the endowment, which generates funding in perpetuity across the University. The remainder will provide expendable resources to support capital priorities and key University, unit-based, and multidisciplinary programs.
Your investment in Campaign Emory will fuel the University’s strategic plan. The result of 18 months of work by more than 1,000 faculty, staff, alumni, and students, this bold plan will strengthen the University’s ability to reach out to more communities, develop leaders, and apply talents and resources to a growing number of global challenges. Campaign funding priorities for every school, unit, and program of the University support the plan’s themes: strengthening faculty distinction, preparing engaged scholars, creating community and engaging society, confronting the human condition, and exploring new frontiers in science and technology. The aim is not to remake Emory in the likeness of any other institution. Rather, the themes focus Emory’s attention on communities at home and abroad, wherever needs demand.
