President Michael Young announced the largest fundraising goal ever attempted by Texas A&M University Thursday.
The initiative, called “Lead by Example,” aspires to raise $4 billion by 2020 and plans to allocate over 85 percent of the funds to academics and research, with a portion also going towards athletic programs.
“‘Lead By Example’ is designed to help us secure resources that build on the contributions the state makes to this university,” Young said.
The initiative is already close to the halfway point, Young said.
“Today we already have, in just a matter of about two and half years, commitments of $1.9 billion towards that $4 billion goal,” Young said.
Young said a substantial amount of the funds will go towards scholarships and facilities.
“We will also work very hard to enhance the faculty, to increase the size of it as well as the resources of the faculty,” Young said. “Attracting star faculty, what we’ve been successful in doing for the past two years, is often very expensive. They need equipment to do the quality work they do.”
Organizations affiliated with the campaign include the Texas A&M Foundation, the Association of Former Students, the 12th Man Foundation and the George Bush Presidential Library Foundation.
This is the third such campaign that Texas A&M has undertaken in the last 25 years. The “Capturing the Spirit” campaign ended in 1996 and raised $637 million, and the “One Spirit, One Vision” campaign concluded in 2006, raising $1.4 billion to go towards the university.
“Lead By Example” is one of the most ambitious initiatives in all of public higher education, matched only by University of California at Los Angeles, Young said.
Ed Davis, president of the Texas A&M Foundation, said president Young is a vital part of the new initiative.
“I think, in the case of President Young, that people who give to institutions will, more importantly, give to other people,” Davis said. “So that relationship that a president has and develops with donors, especially donors of enormous capacity, is very, very important, and he’s demonstrated through two previous campaigns at other institutions that he can do it.”
The campaign will extend through 2020 and the end Texas A&M’s “Vision 2020” initiative.