State of the Future: The Mississippi State Campaign ended in December, raising more than $462 million for the university through private donations.
The MSU Foundation launched the campaign publicly in 2004 to raise much-needed funds for MSU.
Jim Rouse, MSU Foundation Board of Directors vice president, said states across the nation do not have enough money to sufficiently fund their universities.
He said since the university receives only about one-third of its funding from the state, efforts like the State of the Future campaign are vital to the success of the university.
“The purpose of the campaign was to raise a substantial about of money for scholarships and buildings,” Rouse said.
He described the campaign as a huge success, saying it surpassing the MSU Foundation’s original goal of $400 million by $62 million.
“When we announced that our goal was $400 million, people just sort of rolled their eyes and said, ‘No way,’ but by gosh, it happened,” Rouse said.
The Bulldog Nation really pulled together with countless people donating to the campaign to make it a success and raise funds to ensure the well-being of future Bulldog generations, he said.
Rouse said the success of the campaign is especially noteworthy because of the economic state of the nation during the campaign’s run.
When the foundation launched the campaign, the nation was in a time of economic troubles, said Richard Adkerson, president of the MSU Foundation Board of Directors.
Since the campaign’s launch, the economic situation in the nation has improved and then worsened again.
“The success of the campaign means a great deal to the Foundation as the country and state of Mississippi have faced such tough economic times,” Adkerson said.
Supporting students through scholarships is extremely important to the MSU Foundation, he said.
“At the end of the day, the support we received from alumni and friends of the university demonstrated our loyalty and affection for Mississippi State,” he said.
The amount of support raised during the campaign greatly improved the university’s financial situation.
John Rush, vice president of development and alumni, said the MSU Foundation started the campaign with $150 million, an amount which was raised significantly by the campaign’s end.
“The campaign nearly doubled the size of our endowment,” Rush said. “We’re able to provide more money back to the university than we ever have before as a result of this campaign. We acquired nearly 60,000 donors and almost half of those had never given to the university before. That’s a good, good thing.”
In addition to the influx of donors, Rush said that amount of donations the MSU Foundation receives annually increased from about $30 million to about $50 million.
Rush said the money raised during the State of the Future campaign goes to enhance educational opportunities for MSU students.
Rush said as a result of the campaign there are more modern and up-to-date facilities than ever before on campus.
He said $88.2 million was invested in an endowment fund for student scholarships. This gives the university more money for scholarships and will ensure scholarships for future generations of MSU Bulldogs.
“We have more scholarship money today than we had a decade ago,” Rush said.
He said even though the State of the Future campaign is over, the MSU Foundation’s intends to continue actively raising funds.
“Our top priority during this is to continue raising money for student scholarships,” Rush said. “Just because the campaign has ended doesn’t mean we’ve stopped raising money.”
The continuous efforts and support from the MSU Foundation have helped build MSU to the institution it is today, he said.