Tulane University launches its most ambitious fundraising campaign with $1.3 billion goal

Tulane University launched Only the Audacious, The campaign for an ever bolder Tulane today. The campaign is the most ambitious fundraising endeavor in Tulane’s 184 years with a goal of raising $1.3 billion.

The funds will boost the university’s pioneering research; increase scholarships and financial aid to attract the best students from across the globe; recruit and retain the world’s best faculty and build a student experience that emphasizes innovation, firsthand research experiences and learning through civic engagement.

“This is a pivotal moment in Tulane’s history, a time to dream big, to think big and to act boldly,” Tulane President Mike Fitts said. “Our faculty are pushing the boundaries of human knowledge and discovery in innovative and daring ways. Tulane is a magnet for the world’s most curious and courageous thinkers, and we are better positioned than ever to fulfill our mission of improving the human condition through research, learning and service. We have had an incredible past and are pursuing an even more extraordinary future through this campaign.”

“This is a pivotal moment in Tulane’s history, a time to dream big, to think big and to act boldly.”

President Mike Fitts

The campaign’s chairs are longtime Tulane supporters Richard Yulman, Phyllis Taylor and Cathy and Hunter Pierson. More than 54,000 individuals have already donated $820 million during the campaign’s silent phase. Major gifts to the campaign include:

• $100 million from the Weatherhead Foundation to fund scholarships and support faculty, including endowing the first Presidential Chair
• $20 million from the Yulman family to build Yulman Stadium
• $15 million gift from the Patrick F. Taylor Foundation to create the Phyllis M. Taylor Center for Social Innovation and Design Thinking
• An anchor gift from The Marshall Heritage Foundation to establish the Marshall Family Commons within the Goldring/Woldenberg Business Complex
• $12.5 million from the Albert Lepage Foundation to establish the Albert Lepage Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation
• $10 million from the Carol Lavin Bernick Family Foundation and the Lavin Family Foundation to support faculty needs in research, recruitment, development, continuing education and student engagement, as well as to endow one of the first three Presidential Chairs
• An anchor gift from the Goldring Family Foundation for the renovation and expansion of Tulane University’s A. B. Freeman School of Business, including construction of the $35 million Goldring/Woldenberg Business Complex 
• $25 million from the family of Dr. John Winton Deming to name the John W. Deming Department of Medicine and fund medical research and physician-scientists making discoveries within the department 
• An anonymous anchor gift for The Commons, which will provide a new dining facility, study areas, classrooms and a new home for Newcomb College Institute 

“This campaign is designed to transform every dimension of Tulane University,” Board of Tulane Chair Doug Hertz said. “It will jumpstart faculty research and innovation. It will ignite the student experience by greatly increasing collaborative efforts between all disciplines, opening opportunities for discovery like never before. It will create a more diverse student body, faculty and staff and unite the university community in a transformative teaching experience that improves lives throughout New Orleans and the world.” 

The campaign will greatly increase endowed funds dedicated to clinical and translational research that turns laboratory discoveries into cures. It will also expand opportunities to engage Tulane students in conducting such research. 

Campaign funds will be dedicated to increasing the number of endowed faculty positions across the university while creating more Presidential Chairs that will attract some of the world’s most intrepid faculty members in areas such as biomedicine, coastal restoration and fields not yet explored. These faculty members will embark on a dauntless pursuit of teaching and research that crosses multiple disciplines and transforms the world. 

In addition, the campaign will dedicate more money to scholarships and transform Tulane physically by supporting construction of The Commons. The campaign will also support a new Digital Technology Center focused on the humanities, social sciences and other sciences; build innovative spaces for medical students; unite services dedicated to student success and careers in Mussafer Hall and complete expansion of the A. B. Freeman School of Business’ Goldring Woldenberg Business Complex. 

“Tulane is unique among universities for our culture, our people, the breadth of our research and teaching enterprise and the connections we have with New Orleans and the world,” Fitts said. “Now is the time to harness the power of the creative, intrepid students, faculty and researchers we attract to foster a new age of academic ambition, a new culture of purposed research and a new model of service that celebrates differences and creates lasting change throughout the global society.”