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Darlington Campaign Breaks Records
Sep 13, 2000 8:00 AM
By Stefan Eady - Faculty
Darlington School completed the Campaign for Darlington, a multi-year capital campaign, June 30, 2000, with record-breaking gifts totaling $43.2 million, exceeding its goal and ranking as the largest campaign of its kind ever completed by a Southern day/boarding school. This strategic fundraising effort, which went public in November 1997 with a goal of $37 million, was initiated to provide for major capital additions and improvements, a substantially stronger endowment, and steady annual fund growth.
The cornerstone of this endeavor was the funding of both phases of a $16 million, 96,000 square foot athletic center.
Also as outlined in campaign objectives, Darlington was able to improve the infrastructure of four historic buildings on the campus: Wilcox, Porter, South, and Sydenham Halls. The improvements were instigated in phases that began in summer 1997 at a total cost of just over $4 million.
Another major area of success came in the form of endowment support. Of the total commitments to the campaign, over $9 million was given to Darlington’s endowment, which supports faculty and provides tuition assistance to students from Rome/Floyd County and around the world.
The Campaign for Darlington also included gifts to the Annual Fund, which are outright gifts that support the school’s annual operations. Total gifts to the Annual Fund over the campaign period reached the $9 million mark, highlighted by another record-breaking year for the Annual Fund in 1999 – 2000 with cash gifts exceeding $1,312,000 by the June 30, 2000 deadline.
Darlington fundraising programs recently received national recognition by the Council for Aid to Education in their 1999 Voluntary Support for Education publication where Darlington ranked second in the nation for alumni giving out of over 850 day and day/boarding schools across the country. Darlington’s alumni contributed cash gifts totaling $5,357,358 in 1999 ––ranking above such notable schools as McCallie and Baylor in Chattanooga, Tenn., and Westminster, Lovett, and Woodward in Atlanta.
The cornerstone of this endeavor was the funding of both phases of a $16 million, 96,000 square foot athletic center.
Also as outlined in campaign objectives, Darlington was able to improve the infrastructure of four historic buildings on the campus: Wilcox, Porter, South, and Sydenham Halls. The improvements were instigated in phases that began in summer 1997 at a total cost of just over $4 million.
Another major area of success came in the form of endowment support. Of the total commitments to the campaign, over $9 million was given to Darlington’s endowment, which supports faculty and provides tuition assistance to students from Rome/Floyd County and around the world.
The Campaign for Darlington also included gifts to the Annual Fund, which are outright gifts that support the school’s annual operations. Total gifts to the Annual Fund over the campaign period reached the $9 million mark, highlighted by another record-breaking year for the Annual Fund in 1999 – 2000 with cash gifts exceeding $1,312,000 by the June 30, 2000 deadline.
Darlington fundraising programs recently received national recognition by the Council for Aid to Education in their 1999 Voluntary Support for Education publication where Darlington ranked second in the nation for alumni giving out of over 850 day and day/boarding schools across the country. Darlington’s alumni contributed cash gifts totaling $5,357,358 in 1999 ––ranking above such notable schools as McCallie and Baylor in Chattanooga, Tenn., and Westminster, Lovett, and Woodward in Atlanta.
