Culver Announces $200 Million Capital Campaign

Four prominent Chicagoans set to serve as campaign chairs

“By Example: The Campaign for Culver,” was launched publicly in October on the 1,800-acre campus of the Culver Academies and Culver Summer Camps. The $200 million comprehensive fund raising effort is the largest in the 111-year history of the private boarding school.

            Campaign chairman Miles D. White, chairman and chief executive officer, Abbott Laboratories, Culver class of ’73, announced the official launch of the campaign along with co-chairs and fellow Chicago-based Culver alumni Craig Duchossois, chief executive officer of Duchossois Industries, Culver class of ’62; Paul Gignilliat, senior vice president at UBS Financial, Culver class of  ’49; and Jane Eberly, president-elect of the Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Medical Center Woman’s Board, Culver class of ’73. All four also serve on the Culver Educational Foundation’s Board of Trustees.

            “This is the most important and ambitious campaign in Culver’s history – in fact, the first of its kind,” White said. “Generations of Culver people – alumni, friends, faculty and staff believe in the product and education, but now is the time that we need to get out there and tell our story to attract more people. Following (Culver’s “Doorway to Dreams” auction held on Oct. 1), to date we’ve raised more than $100 million toward the $200 million goal.  Now it’s our job to tell the Culver story and raise the other half.”

            “By Example” will raise endowment and annual funds for critical elements such as the funding for teaching and learning programs, financial aid and scholarships, faculty salaries, professional development funds and benefits, horsemanship, athletics, the chapel, summer camps and more. The majority of the fundraising will focus on nearly doubling the existing $135 million endowment to capitalize the school.  The goal also includes approximately $30 million in renovations to classrooms and other campus facilities and $30 million in annual fund raising over the five-year life of the campaign. Moreover, the Campaign for Culver will raise endowment, capital, and annual funds to:

• Attract, develop, and retain the most talented and committed faculty and students

• Build distinctive learning programs that will make it a model for others to follow

• Protect Culver’s investment in the schools’ most tangible asset – the facilities

• Honor the traditions that make Culver unique

• Ensure that generations of students and campers will be able to experience Culver’s extraordinary variety, beauty, and quality

Culver has led by example for more than a century. A successful campaign ensures the Academies will continue to do so in perpetuity.