Our Priorities: Supporting Faculty

Faculty Renewal: Faculty are the life-blood of teaching, research, and mentorship at Cornell. To revitalize our ranks, we plan to hire as many as 100 new faculty members per year through a $100 million Cornell Faculty Renewal Fund (with $50 million in private gifts and the other half in matching university funds). Learn more.

Faculty Diversity: Faculty turnover represents a tremendous opportunity to accelerate hiring that strengthens Cornell's inclusiveness and diversity. By gathering faculty with various interests, expertise, and backgrounds, we will further expand and deepen the intellectual and cultural wisdom of our community of scholars. Cornell is raising $20 million for this priority. Learn more.

Educational Excellence: To nurture, support, and challenge Cornell's thought leaders, we are raising $55 million for excellence-in-education funds across the colleges and units, including support for the Center for Teaching Excellence. Learn more.

Our Priorities: Advancing Students

Undergraduate Scholarships: With an enduring commitment to need-blind admissions and need-based financial aid, Cornell continues to attract and welcome exceptional students, regardless of their means or origins. Our scholarships have become even more crucial in challenging financial times.To strengthen our need-based undergraduate financial program, we have set a fundraising target of $157 million. To further expand educational access, we also seek to raise $25 million in financial aid funds specifically for international undergraduate students. Learn more.

Graduate School Fellowships and Professional School Scholarships: Graduate and professional school students, alongside faculty, help pave the way for innovations in their fields. Cornell hopes to raise $100 million to attract and support these outstanding students. Because only a fraction of Cornell’s graduate students are funded by external sources, and because the majority of them receive direct, merit-based aid from the university, the Graduate School faces the enormous challenge of providing support packages to compete against those of our peer institutions. Similarly, scholarships in our colleges of law, management, and veterinary medicine increase Cornell's ability to compete for the best students. Learn more about graduate school fellowships and other priorities at the Graduate School. Learn more about professional scholarships for the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management, Cornell Law School, and the College of Veterinary Medicine.

Student and Academic Services: Cornell’s vibrant environment for living and learning is sustained by a variety of programs and services that challenge, encourage, and support students' health, diversity, and academic and personal growth. These include academic and career services; athletics and physical education; housing and dining; health services; and programs that stimulate public service and engagement. To fortify and develop these programs and services, Cornell is raising $15 million in private support. In addition to this general campaign goal, we aim to further support specific initiatives:  the Award Match Initiative, which matches the level of need-based financial aid packages that scholar-athletes are offered by competing colleges and universities; the West Campus House System, the Carol Tatkon Center on North Campus, and the Rawlings Presidential Research Scholarships. Learn more about Student and Academic Services.

Our Priorities: Strengthening Ties Near and Far

Engaged Cornell: Public engagement and service-learning are hallmarks of a Cornell education and are integrated into all fields of study at the university. For the campaign, we are raising $20 million in private support for engagement endeavors by the Office of the Provost, the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, the Cornell School of Hotel Administration, the College of Human Ecology, the ILR School, the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, the Cornell Law School, the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine, and the Division of Student and Academic Services. Among our highest priorities, we will energize community-engaged learning and research, translational research, and public engagement programs stemming from our land-grant mission. Learn more.

International Programs: Requiring major new investments to respond to the rise of new global possibilities and the decline in federal support for international research and teaching, Cornell must raise $30 million for international programs, in addition to fundraising goals established for the support of international students and the recruitment of international faculty members. Our efforts will further advance the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies, Cornell Abroad, Cornell International Institute for Food, Agriculture, and Development, and language instruction. Learn more.

Ithaca–Weill Connections: Synergies between the Ithaca campus and Weill-Cornell Medical College in New York City lead to many far-reaching breakthroughs. To further stimulate and foster innovative interdisciplinary and inter-campus work in critical areas, Cornell is raising $5 million in support of academic, medical, and scientific collaborations between these two campuses. Learn more.

Our Priorities: Sustaining Our Yearly Vitality

The Cornell Annual Fund: Annual Fund dollars are flexible, unrestricted resources that benefit Cornell in all-encompassing ways—including providing for research stipends, service-learning experiences, equipment upgrades, increased student scholarships, and competitive faculty recruitment packages.

We had originally set a campaign goal of at least $30 million annually until 2015—a figure that we have surpassed in recent years, thanks to the remarkable support of alumni, parents, and friends.We remain committed to sustaining this growth and raising a total of $165 million for the Annual Fund during the Cornell Now campaign.  In doing so, we plan to build upon our record-breaking achievements in Annual Fund giving and to set the Cornell Annual Fund on a course to reach $40 million annually in the future. With continued support of this powerful resource, Cornell can continue to remain alert and responsive to emerging needs and opportunities.

Learn more about the Cornell Annual Fund and different ways to give. You can also make a secure online gift now.

Our Priorities: Bolstering Academic Focus Areas

Business and Management Sciences: With a goal of raising $75 million in private support, Cornell aims to galvanize interdisciplinary research and teaching for undergraduate and graduate programs in the business and management sciences. This endeavor builds upon the collective strength of five colleges and schools: the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management, the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, the School of Hotel Administration, the College of Human Ecology, and the ILR School. Along with developing Cornell University Library’s business and management sciences collections, this effort aims to further elevate top-level finance programs that include banking and asset management, marketing, real estate, labor economics, sustainable global business, entrepreneurship, hospitality, health care, and human resources. Learn more.

Economics: In 2011, Cornell gathered fifty economists from across campus under the unified cross-college Department of Economics, merging the entire College of Arts and Sciences economics and ILR School labor economics departments and including a jointly appointed group of distinguished senior faculty from the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management, the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, and the College of Human Ecology. In support of people and programs in economics, Cornell is raising $35 million in private gifts. Learn more.

Humanities and the Arts: To stimulate and support humanistic and creative activity and inquiry for our community of scholars, Cornell has set a target goal of raising $100 million in philanthropic contributions for the humanities and the arts. As part of this endeavor, the College of Arts and Sciences expects to hire, over the next decade, more than 100 outstanding humanists at various points in their careers.  Learn more here and here.

Life Sciences: The College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, the College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Engineering, the College of Human Ecology, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, and the College of Veterinary Medicine are all working together to raise $30 million for boosting Cornell’s excellence in the life sciences. Across different disciplines that include computer science, physics, engineering, biology, and chemistry, support for the life sciences will benefit faculty renewal and recruitment, research, graduate fellowships, and facilities. Learn more.

Social Sciences: Dedicated to a collaborative, multi-perspectival approach to investigating and solving serious local and global issues, Cornell has set a $10 million fundraising target for the social sciences. This endeavor supports people, programs, and initiatives in disciplines relevant to the social sciences, including economics, psychology, sociology, and government. Learn more.

Sustainable Development, Energy, and the Environment: To advance Cornell as a world leader in sustainability education, research, and practice, we seek to raise $40 million in private support. This wide-ranging endeavor involves, in particular, the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, the College of Engineering, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management, and the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management, the School of Hotel Administration, and the David R. Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future. Through support of faculty teaching and research, graduate fellowships, current-use and seed-grant funds, and a variety of initiatives and programs, Cornell aims to galvanize sustainable development, energy, and the environment to engage and benefit communities near and far. Learn more.

Ways to Give: Annual Unrestricted Gifts

Yearly, current-use and unrestricted gifts provide immediate and flexible support for the university and its colleges, schools, and units. With these powerful Annual Fund dollars, provosts, deans, and directors can act quickly on new opportunities and urgent needs. With its unique flexibility, the Annual Fund is a vital current-use resource to support Cornell where its impact is most felt.

Learn more about the Cornell Annual Fund. You can also make a secure online gift now.

Ways to Give: Endowment Gifts

Cornell's overall endowment provides a stable, permanent source of funds. Increasing the endowment is critical to the campaign and the continued excellence of the university. Endowment gifts allow Cornell to preserve its signature strengths while funding its current priorities and meeting its future goals. The endowment is not a cash reserve that Cornell can draw upon at will. Instead, virtually all endowed funds are invested, and a portion of the earnings is released each year to support the university and the purposes specified by donors. Over time, the principal grows as a result of reinvested earnings.

Donors may choose to establish endowments for student scholarships, graduate fellowships, faculty positions, programs, and other purposes such as library collections or athletic team funds.

Learn more about Cornell's endowment.

Ways to Give: Planned Gifts

Gift planning allows you to select ways to give that help you meet your goals—and Cornell's. You can:

• Earn income, pay fewer taxes, and secure your retirement
• Enhance your net estate
• Create a personal legacy
• Get more from your real estate

Committing upfront cash is not the only way to make a charitable gift. Today's benefactors can also choose to employ one or more of a variety of giving techniques that offer a number of advantages.

Cornell's Office of Trusts, Estates, and Gift Planning offers alumni, parents, and friends personal and confidential service that is of the highest quality. Professional advisors will work with you, and with your financial advisors if desired, to help you select the giving tools and techniques to meet your individual goals, secure your family's future, and strengthen Cornell—all at the same time. Services are provided without cost or obligation.

All individuals who choose to make a planned gift become a member of the Cayuga Society.

Ways to Give: Recognized Levels of Giving

Making an annual gift at one of the giving society levels allows you to play an important role in the financial health of Cornell and make a powerful statement about how much you value a Cornell education.

Giving Societies:

Learn more about giving circles.

Campaign Contacts

Annual Giving:

Colleges and Units:

Corporations and Foundations:

Gift Planning:

Major Gifts:

Campaign Contacts: Colleges, Schools, and Units

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

College of Architecture, Art, and Planning

College of Arts and Sciences

College of Engineering

College of Human Ecology

College of Veterinary Medicine

Computing and Information Science

Cornell Law School

Cornell Lab of Ornithology

Cornell Plantations

Cornell University Library

Department of Athletics and Physical Education

Division of Student and Academic Services

Graduate School

Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art

ILR School

Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management

School of Hotel Administration

Weill Cornell Medical College

Campaign Contacts: Leadership

Vice President for Alumni Affairs and Development:

Charles D. Phlegar joined Cornell in 2006 as the vice president for the Division of Alumni Affairs and Development. As an expert in alumni engagement and fundraising, he has held impactful leadership postions for Virginia Tech, the University of South Carolina, and Johns Hopkins University before joining Cornell. Read more.

Campaign Co-chairs:

The "Cornell Now" campaign is co-chaired by Robert Appel '53, Stephen Ashley '62, MBA '64, and Andrew Tisch '71.

Robert Appel '53 is a trustee emeritus of the Cornell University Board of Trustees and a presidential councillor. He serves as campaign chair for "Discoveries That Make A Difference," the campaign for Weill Cornell Medical College. Read more.

Stephen Ashley '62, MBA '64 is a university trustee and co-chair of "Cornell Now." He is president and CEO of The Ashley Group. Read more.

Andrew Tisch '71 is co-chair of "Cornell Now," a member of the Cornell University Board of Trustees, and co-chair of Loews Corp. Read more.

Major Gifts Committee:

The Major Gifts Committee is co-chaired by Ann Bowers '59, Ned Morgens '63, and Harold Tanner '52. The committee includes some 117 additional members.

Ann Bowers '59 is chair and founding trustee of the Noyce Foundation, a nonprofit foundation she and her late husband, Robert Noyce, created to stimulate system-wide improvement in K-12 public schools. She is a trustee emeritus of the university and a presidential councillor.

Ned Morgens '63 is on the board of Wayside Technology Group, Inc., and overseer and executive committee member of Weill Cornell Medical College. He is also a trustee emeritus and presidential councillor.

Harold Tanner '52 is president of Tanner & Co., Inc., a private investment banking firm, and former managing director of Salomon Brothers, Inc. He is a chairman emeritus of the Cornell University Board of Trustees.

Sesquicentennial Chairs:

Peter C. Meinig '61, chairman emeritus of the Cornell University Board of Trustees, and his wife Nancy '62 are leading Cornell's celebration of its sesquicentennial in 2015. As co-chairs of the sesquicentennial, the Meinigs work with Vice President for University Relations Glenn Altschuler, whom Skorton has appointed to chair a Sesquicentennial Committee responsible for planning major events leading up to 2015.

Additional members of the committee are:

• Rosemary Avery, chair of the Department of Policy Analysis and Management
• Tommy Bruce, vice president of the Division of University Communications
• Joseph Burns, professor of astronomy and the Irving Porter Church Professor of Engineering
• David Feldshuh, professor in the Department of Theatre, Film, and Dance
• Isaac Kramnick, the Richard J. Schwartz Professor of Government
• Charles Phlegar, vice president of the Division of Alumni Affairs and Development

Read more.