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Week of 29 August 2003· Vol. VII, No. 1
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University fundraisers smash last year’s record with $103.4 M in gifts

Christopher Barreca (DGE’50, LAW’53), chairman of the Board of Trustees, Chancellor John Silber, and Christopher Reaske, vice president for development and alumni relations (from left), gathered on July 15 to thank Office of Development and Alumni Relations staff for the University’s eighth consecutive record-breaking year of fundraising. Photo by Kalman Zabarsky

 

Christopher Barreca (DGE’50, LAW’53), chairman of the Board of Trustees, Chancellor John Silber, and Christopher Reaske, vice president for development and alumni relations (from left), gathered on July 15 to thank Office of Development and Alumni Relations staff for the University’s eighth consecutive record-breaking year of fundraising. Photo by Kalman Zabarsky

 

by David J. Craig

Boston University brought in an unprecedented $103.4 million in gifts in fiscal 2003, exceeding last year’s record-setting amount by 14 percent and continuing an eight-year stretch of growth in philanthropic support to the University.

At a July 15 celebration of that success, Chancellor John Silber called Christopher Reaske “tremendously gutsy” for announcing last year, despite the sputtering economy, a fundraising goal of $100 million for fiscal 2003. Reaske, as vice president for development and alumni relations, has overseen BU’s fundraising since 1995. “Nobody would have thought ill of Chris if he had said, ‘We’ll go for $95 million,’” Silber said. “It would have been quite an achievement in itself. But he stuck to his goal of $100 million and exceeded it.”

The $103.4 million total “is roughly three times the funds we were generating at the time [Reaske] took over this operation,” he continued. “Consequently, I know that this achievement turns on his own administrative skills and his own vision and his own determination.”

Christopher Barreca (DGE’50, LAW’53), Board of Trustees chairman, conveyed the Board’s gratitude to the Development and Alumni Relations staff. “This is a remarkable achievement that you all have attained, and you should all be very proud,” he said. “I just want you to know that it’s much appreciated . . . and this is only the beginning.”

The escalating momentum in fundraising is considered extremely important because the University is preparing to publicly announce a significant capital campaign within the next several years. Having completed two years of the “quiet” phase of the campaign, the University has raised a total of $270 million, including gifts and pledges for future contributions. Gifts solicited every year by the Office of Development and Alumni Relations support academic and nonacademic projects across the entire University.

BU’s top academic officer, Provost Dennis Berkey, said fundraising is essential to the success of the University’s educational mission. “So much of what has been generated has been directly in support of the faculty’s academic and research programs,” he said. “This is a wonderful story.” He said that the faculty and deans “look forward with eager appreciation now to taking on this [capital] campaign and moving the University to even greater heights.”

Among factors leading to the success was the coordinated work of the Development and Alumni Relations staff, the trustees, the senior administration, and the faculty, Reaske said. “The momentum we have is great,” he told his staff in an emotional speech. “The University is well positioned. . . . My great thanks to all of you.”

       

28 August 2003
Boston University
Office of University Relations