The $30 million campaign

To help pay some of the uncommon bills that EMU will face in upcoming years, the school has initiated an ambiguously-named "Comprehensive Campaign" to fundraise approximately $30 million. President Loren Swartzendruber said, "Typically when a college does a campaign, it focuses on buildings." The Comprehensive Campaign is unique in that it will take on several priorities at once, according to Vice President for Advancement Kirk Shisler.

Swartzendruber said the $30 million figure was a result of adding up a list of items the campaign will benefit. He said that $30 million is a minimum amount, and that the eventual goal of the campaign will be higher, but that EMU is at least 18 months away from having a definite target.

Swartzendruber said that the comprehensive campaign "was being planned before we ever got into prioritization. They're not directly connected, but the lessons learned from prioritization will affect how money is spent," Swartzendruber said.

Shisler said prioritization will "help inform some of our decisions" about where funding goes. However, no budget allocations have yet been set.

The campaign consists of two phases. The first is the silent phase, which began this year and will last for another two years. Suisler described it as a "planning phase" that involves talking to the Board of Trustees and key constituents. The second phase will be the public phase, which will involve all possible donors and will last roughly five years. At the end, a reassessment will occur to look at new or continuing needs.

At present, persons, primarily donors, are being invited to join the 15- to 20- member Campaign Steering Committee, said Schwartzendruber, but that group will not meet for another six to eight months.

Swartzendruber said that current students will not see the full results of the comprehensive campaign "by virtue of how long these things take," but noted that present EMU students have benefited from previous campaigns. However, students may see early signs of the campaign's results, such as the beginnings of renovations in campus buildings. Shisler said the turf field will see improvement "hopefully within a year," and work on a campus entrance could be begin within two. Of current students Swartzendruber said, "I can understand they're not going to get emotionally charged up."

Not all the goals of the comprehensive campaign are buildings, though. One goal is to increase the university fund, which makes up the difference between tuition revenue and the costs of running EMU.

Another goal is to promote planned giving, primarily from estate gifts. This money is not necessarily directed at any specific goal, but rather is either placed in the EMU endowment or used to buy property adjacent to campus.

One possible benefit cited by Shisler is that as EMU moves beyond prioritization, the campaign could have a favorable impact on morale, creating a "positive buzz; positive energy," as it "presents an opportunity to be excited about common goals."