Five and-a-half years after it began, a major fundraising campaign has ended at Augustana College, and exceeded its goal by several million dollars. On New Year's Eve, the college celebrated the conclusion of "Augustana Now," and its final tally of more than 133 million dollars.
Executive Vice President Kent Barnds says it began in mid-2015 with a goal of 125 million, and went beyond it despite the long pandemic during the final year of the campaign.
"I think it really shows the spirit of supporters of Augustana College that they came through and helped us exceed that goal, and believe in the mission and promise of this place, and want to make sure that today's students have the same opportunities that yesterday's students had."
In addition to several capital projects, including renovations, additions, and the new Lindberg Center for Health and Human Performance, a key goal was to raise money for student scholarships.
"In addition to that, an initiative that was brainstormed by one of our trustees, an initiative called Close the Gap, has provided many current scholarships to students to help bring down the cost of education."
Gifts to Augustana Now came from over 13,000 donors. It even raised some money to help international students, stranded on campus by the pandemic, and not allowed to return home.
