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Purdue donors raise more than $350 million over past year

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) – Multiple donation records are being broken at Purdue University. Donors were able to raise more than $350 million for the Boilermakers over the last year.

WLFI looked into how this impacts the students, faculty and research opportunities.

$351.9 million was collected from 2016-17 that will directly impact Purdue University.

“It really does cut across all areas of campus,” said Amy Noah, Purdue director of development.

Donors were able to break four records held at Purdue University. The first, donating $75.4 million for student support which boosts Purdue’s Ever True Campaign. That’s a fundraiser aimed at reaching more than $2 billion by 2019.

“Thank you a lot, it’s really appreciated,” said Purdue junior Courtney Thomas.

Thomas is the first person in her family to go to college.

“I myself get scholarships, probably from the donations that people give,” Thomas said. “And so it feels really good to know that people that don’t even know me support my education.”

The second milestone was raising a total of $351.9 million in a single fiscal year, which was a 6 percent increase from the previous year.

“Many, many donors have felt compelled to support students and they’ve certainly responded to the university’s focus on affordability,” said Noah.

From 2016 to 2017, more than 85,000 people donated. That was another record for Purdue and a 3.5 percent increase from last year.

“This year alone, and out of that number, 16,000 had never given to Purdue before,” Noah said.

The final record involved Purdue’s Day of Giving when $282 million was raised with a record-breaking number of participants. Noah said her team is shocked and appreciative.

“We certainly recognize that some people who might have watched from afar and maybe have not been able to support us in the past, made a decision this year to support our efforts and we’re very grateful,” said Noah.

The more than $350 million will go toward updating facilities, research, programs, faculty and student support – something for which Thomas is grateful.

“My family would be in a lot of trouble because we can’t really afford for me to go to college and so to get the scholarships really helps me further my education,” Thomas said.

The next fiscal year to receive donations has already started. It began July 1 and wraps up July 31, 2018.

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