Illinois Wesleyan University’s new fundraising campaign has a goal of raising $200 million for the university.
The Honor the Past, Shape the Future campaign announced by the university Friday aims to fund student success, experiential learning and entrepreneurship, faculty and academics, and enhancing the campus community. The announcement came as part of Wesleyan’s annual homecoming week celebration.
“For a university of our size with the alumni base of our size, that's quite ambitious, but we fully believe it's well within our reach,” IWU president Sheahon Zenger said in an interview.
Wesleyan set a record over the previous fiscal year, with $35 million raised, including $3.6 million for the All in for Wesleyan day in the spring that set a record for the most money raised in a single day by a McLean County higher education institution.
Of the $200 million campaign total, $50 million would go toward an endowment for scholarships, and $25 million toward the Wesleyan Fund that is unrestricted and goes toward the needs of an academic year “where it matters most,” according to the fund's website.
Another $30 million would fund salaries for endowed chairs and professorships, and $20 million would go toward research, sabbatical and conference funding for faculty. Donations from the campaign also would fund current and recent building work being done on campus like at the Petrick Idea Center, Shirk Center and residence halls.
“There has never been a better time to be on this campus for both faculty and students,” Jesse Meyer, vice president of advancement, said in a statement shared with the media.
“Illinois Wesleyan is building on the foundation that has been built over the past 175 years that will shape students for their future after they graduate. This campaign gives our community the opportunity to invest in that future.”
Ames donation
Illinois Wesleyan also celebrated the fulfillment of a donation that stands as an IWU record.
The Ames on Main/Munsell-Ferguson residence hall complex was named for the Ames family, from which B. Charles “Chuck” Ames and Joyce “Jay” Eichorn Ames donated more than $38 million to IWU over their lifetimes. That included a $25 million donation from the couple’s estate, after Chuck died in 2017 and Jay died in 2021. It is the largest single donation in university history.
“We've been very lucky at making more money than we need, so we're better off giving it to the institutions that [we] care about,” Chuck Ames said in 2009, when the couple made the $25 million pledge as a leading gift in the Transforming Lives Campaign.
“If you can help a liberal arts school, you're really doing a good job of trying to preserve an institution that's very important in the fabric of this country. And Illinois Wesleyan is certainly one of those."
The couple were named as honorary co-chairs of the campaign when it was launched.
“Some people would rather have a yacht. We would rather have something beautiful on that campus that we helped bring about,” Jay said at the time.
The Ames on Main project was completed through their children, Cindy Huffman and Dick Ames. They, as well as nieces and nephews of Chuck and Jay, were honored at Saturday's homecoming football game that IWU won, 34-14 over Carthage.
The $25 million gift also contributed toward the endowment of four faculty professorships.
