Beyond expectations

Three years ago, the University of Auckland publicly launched its ambitious For All Our Futures fundraising campaign. The focus was to ask some of the biggest questions facing society today and to answer them, in partnership with our supporters.

The University’s Campaign For All Our Futures has been an unprecedented success – raising an extraordinary $380,271,165 to fund research, fuel innovation and support students.

The campaign was publicly launched in September 2016, to raise $300 million to answer important questions for the future of New Zealand and to actively engage with at least 50 percent of the University’s alumni. By the end of the campaign on 31 October 2019, the fundraising total had exceeded its goal by $80 million and 60 percent of alumni were actively engaged.

“The campaign has highlighted the power of partnerships and philanthropy as we address the challenges and opportunities of the modern world,” says Vice-Chancellor Professor Stuart McCutcheon. “I sincerely thank the thousands of people who have contributed to this outstanding success, our staff for conducting and supporting wonderful teaching and research, our alumni for demonstrating the lifelong benefits of a University of Auckland degree, and our many friends and donors for making the work of this extraordinary institution possible.”

At a “thank you” event for key supporters on 21 November, Health Sciences student Tahirah Moton spoke about rising from a background of family breakdown and foster homes to successfully undertaking university study, thanks to a scholarship from the Ralph and Eve Seelye Charitable Trust. She has now been awarded a prestigious Kupe Leadership Scholarship.

Alumna Dr Emma Scotter, head of the Motor Neuron Disease Lab at the University’s Centre for Brain Research, talked about the Aotearoa Fellowship that funded her return to Auckland from a research role at King’s College London. She now receives support from the Motor Neurone Disease Association of NZ, Marcus Gerbich and Dr Amelia Pais-Rodriguez, and the Freemasons.

The fundraising total was made up of 23,592 gifts, large and small, from 7,236 donors. Almost all were given for a specific purpose, nominated by the donor. Many of the major gifts were for medical research, including the largest-ever gift to the University, from the Hugh Green Foundation. Numerous gifts supported donor-funded student scholarships, which trebled in number over the course of the Campaign.

The very last gift was an online donation of $220 towards the Student Emergency and Wellbeing Fund, from an Australia-based alumnus.

The campaign began by asking multiple questions, reflecting important needs across society. By its close, many of these “Can We” questions had been turned into “Together, we have…” statements and history had been made, as For All Our Futures became New Zealand’s largest-ever fundraising campaign.