Bryn Mawr College Launches Comprehensive Campaign to Raise $250 Million for Benefit of Students
Bryn Mawr College has officially launched a campaign to raise $250 million to support its students, faculty, and historic campus.
“Bryn Mawr is committed to promoting academic excellence, expanding opportunities for women, and preparing students for lives of purposeful action,” said President Kim Cassidy. “This campaign will support us in continuing that mission, which benefits our students and the world they will one day lead.”
Nearly $135 million from 13,000 donors has already been raised during the quiet phase of the campaign. Titled “Defy Expectation,” the campaign focuses on support for the College and Bryn Mawr’s Graduate School of Social Work, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and post-baccalaureate premedical program.
Support will focus on four main areas:
- Student support – funds raised by the campaign will help Bryn Mawr to continue to attract the best and brightest students without regard for their financial need. Funds will also contribute to providing the academic and extracurricular resources and experiences that will ensure students’ success after Bryn Mawr.
- Faculty resources – gifts will help in recruiting and retaining top professors as well as providing the additional support necessary for innovative curricula and distinguished scholarship.
- Campus enrichment – funds will preserve Bryn Mawr College’s iconic campus, consistently rated among the most beautiful in the U.S., while updating facilities to meet the changing needs and ambitions of the student body.
- The Bryn Mawr Fund – increasing annual unrestricted gifts to the College will ensure that each year’s student experience is better than the last.
Through “Defy Expectation,” the College has:
- Launched the Leadership, Innovation and Liberal Arts Center (LILAC) through two parents’ generous challenge grants. The innovative center helps students connect their studies with work and engagement in the world.
- Endowed 44 new scholarships (including a generous matching grant from a young alumna and her husband that inspired a number of endowments by younger alumnae/i).
- Grown international programming for students, more than 70 percent of whom study or do research abroad.
- Re-imagine the College’s science center, where women earn STEM degrees at a rate of almost three times the national average.
“The philanthropy and commitment of our alumnae/i, families, and friends are the lifeblood of Bryn Mawr,” added President Cassidy. “With their continued support, we will grow our financial aid program, enhance the student experience, and sustain Bryn Mawr’s legacy of excellence.”
“Defy Expectation” also aims to share and elevate Bryn Mawr pride among students, alumnae/i, and community members through events and social media that celebrate the College’s community and history.
Bryn Mawr plans to host a number of regional, public launch events, including:
- Thursday, October 6, 2016 – New York City
- Thursday, November 17, 2016 – Boston
- Thursday, December 8, 2016 – Washington, D.C.
- Tuesday, February 28, 2017 – London
- Tuesday, April 18, 2017 – Chicago
- June 2017 – San Francisco and Los Angeles
“This campaign is an opportunity for the entire Bryn Mawr community to show our support for and to give back to the institution that was integral in our development as strong, smart, and successful alumnae/i,” said Denise Lee Hurley ’82, Campaign Chair. “We look forward to surpassing our $250 million goal and paying it forward to the next generation.”