Phillips Academy’s capital campaign, ‘Building on the Surest Foundation,’ will go public on November 5. During the public phase of the campaign, the school aims to raise the remaining $121 million to reach the campaign’s goal of $300 million, according to Peter Ramsey, Secretary of the Academy. “If the economy holds up, our hope is to close the campaign in June of 2012. Raising $300 million in seven years is pretty powerful, and we are aware that it might take longer,” said Ramsey. The inauguration of the campaign’s public phase was originally scheduled for fall 2008, but administrators decided to put the launch on hold because of the economic downturn. “The launch was originally scheduled for last year, but we made the decision to hold off. We didn’t know how bad [the economy] was going to get, but it didn’t seem to be the right time,” said Ramsey. The anticipated $121 million from the public phase will fund many projects, including a new boathouse, the Andover Inn reconstruction, off-campus travel for students, the renovation of Bullfinch Hall and the support of need-blind admissions. Since the campaign began in 2005, it has raised $179 million. The Phillips Academy Board of Trustees, in conjunction with school administrators, set the goal of $300 million in the fall of 2006, based on the Strategic Plan of 2004. The money that has been raised by the capital campaign is already being used in Andover’s budget. “Students and faculty are already realizing the benefits of the campaign,” said Tracy Sweet, Director of Communications. The money raised so far has been funneled to projects such as the Addison Gallery and Paresky Commons renovations, and the creation of the Boys Varsity Soccer field. “The school looked at our universal set of needs and decided which were the most urgent and how much money we thought we could raise,” Ramsey said. The Board of Trustees divided the $300 million goal into five priorities for giving: for current use, endowment, faculty and academic programs, students and campus. The priorities each have their own monetary goal. According to Ramsey, current use has a goal of $52 million; endowment, $20.5 million; students, $68 million; faculty and academic programs, $72 million and campus, $87.5 million. Ramsey said that gifts towards current use have been increasingly popular, because current-use gifts last only a year, whereas gifts to the endowment are more long-term. “Fewer people are willing to make long-term pledges,” said Ramsey. The gifts for current use have totaled $37 million of the $52 million goal. Of the $68 million goal for student support, which deals with student financial aid, $34 million has been raised. Andover’s need-blind initiative has been a driving force in raising money for student support. “We are sustaining the commitment to need blind admissions. It is positive for the school, and it has motivated people philanthropically,” said Ramsey. The $179 million raised to date were collected from contributions from alumni, parents, friends of the school and corporate foundations, said Ramsey. Alumni have given $153 million, parents are responsible for $15 million, friends have donated $5.5 million, and corporations have .pledged $5.5 million. “Many corporations donate money to Andover to support distinctive outreach organizations that we have,” said Ramsey.
